Frank Akuley explaining issues to journalists
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana First Company Limited, Frank Akuley, has cautioned contractors engaged by the waste management company to refrain from making what he called ‘unwarranted’ claims for no work done.
He said some contractors whose signed contracts with Ghana First for the construction of modern toilet facilities across the country were inundating their offices with requests for payments in clear breach of the agreement.
“Some contractors have resorted to making frivolous claims about non-payment of work done. We have said that once a contractor hits 60% of work done as the agreement stipulates, there is no way we cannot facilitate your claims for payment.”
At a news conference in Accra on Thursday, Mr. Akuley said, “If you’re nowhere near 60% we would not process any documents for payments.”
“We have seen that many of the contracts have been sublet to other agents and those people don’t seem to understand the way Ghana First operates, and so they go about to make spurious allegations to the effect that were are not paying them for work done.”
“It’ s worrying when contractors sign agreements with Ghana First and then approach the Ministry of Sanitation for payment, it shows very clear that some of the contractors did not understand the agreement but signed on to the project.”
“We have already gone through all the processes with them but some do not seem to understand the workings of Ghana First. We shall continue to sensitize them on the way forward.
“We have said persistently that our doors are opened for discussions and all contractors should not hesitate to approach us over issues they may not understand properly. When they are approaching us for contracts they come with solid track records so we cannot understand why things should turn out this way.
He said “Almost all the contractors submitted impressive documents detailing their work experience so Ghana First expects them to be on top of issues.”
According to Mr. Akuley, “It’s clear in the agreement that the contractors are expected to raise their own funds to commence the projects and when it is 60% complete, they are entitled to some payments.
“Some of the contractors come back for mobilization to commence the projects which is not what the contract states. You can see that indirectly, Ghana First is financing some of these projects. We have decided that we will go according to the terms of the contract and there will be no financial assistance towards the commencement of the projects.”
He said so far about 1,800 projects have been given on contract and about 500 are at various stages of completion.
A Daily Guide Report