World Bank goes after Finance Minister for failure to submit $218m GALOP audited financial statement
The World Bank has given the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, an ultimatum of 30 days to submit an audited financial statements of the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).
In a statement issued by the World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Pierre Laporte, failure on the part of the Finance Minister to submit the audited financial statements, will result in the World Bank “exploring the possibility of exercising the appropriate legal remedies under the GALOP financing agreement.”
A careful perusal of the statement by the World Bank indicates that, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, was supposed to furnish the World Bank with details of the audited financial statements of the GALOP programme signed between the International Development Association (IDA) and Government of Ghana by end-December 2021.
However, 10 months after the initial deadline for the submission of the audited financial statements, the Finance Minister is yet to submit the audited financial statements for the first year of the project covering the year 2021.
The Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) is a five-year project with the objective to improve the quality of education in low-performing basic education schools and strengthen education sector equity and accountability in Ghana.
The project targets the 10,000 lowest-performing Basic Schools (Kindergarten, Primary and Junior High Schools) and all special schools with direct interventions.
The total project amount for GALOP is $218.7 million. It is jointly funded by the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
In total, about 2,328,750 pupils and 76,000 teachers from the targeted basic schools would directly benefit from the various interventions under the project.
To achieve the project’s objective, the school system will benefit from the following:
• Enhanced capacity of teachers to effectively discharge their duties through continuous professional development.
• Enhanced capacity of heads of schools to effectively manage schools for improved outcomes.
• Enhanced capacity of Circuit Supervisors to strengthen school inspections and supervision.
• Enhanced capacity of District Education Directorates through training in education management and the provision of District Grants.
• Promotion of the equitable deployment of trained teachers and incentivisation of teachers’ deployment to rural areas.
• Strengthening of School Management Committees (SMCs) to promote school-community engagement.
• Provision of Learning Grants in addition to the Capitation Grants.
• Development and distribution of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) on the national curriculum.
• Supply of quality TLMs to special schools.
