People are sick and need money – Free SHS suppliers tell gov’t

President of the Free Senior High School (SHS) Suppliers Association, Agnes Abedua, has appealed to the government to urgently settle outstanding debts owed them, saying some members are now battling illness, financial hardship, and even deaths in their families.

According to her, suppliers have been waiting for payment since 2024 despite financing food supplies through credit and bank loans.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Madam Abedua said the prolonged delay had left suppliers struggling to meet their basic needs while banks continued to demand repayment.

“We have been supplying since 2024. I started in September 2024, and to date, we have not been paid,” she lamented.

She said suppliers had relied heavily on credit and loans to keep their businesses running, but the situation had now become unbearable.

“We take the items on credit and take bank loans to support the business. We can barely feed. People are sick and need money,” she stated.

Madam Abedua said the financial difficulties were having devastating consequences, recounting the death of a colleague’s 21-year-old child whom she said could not receive medical attention because the family had no money.

She added that several suppliers were also dealing with serious health challenges amid the financial crisis.

“Someone in Takoradi even has a stroke. People are sick and need money.”

Madam Abedua said suppliers had repeatedly been assured that efforts were underway to settle the debt, but no payment had reached them.

“They always tell us they are working on it, but we haven’t even received a penny.”

She said the latest update given to the suppliers was that their payment documents were with the Finance Minister for approval and would subsequently go through the Education Ministry, the National Food Buffer Stock Company, and the Ghana Commodity Exchange before payments could be made.

The situation, she said, had also resulted in huge losses for suppliers who prepared to provide food after being asked to register, only for some to receive no contracts.

“When there was a change of government, we didn’t get jobs even though we registered. We also registered with Buffer Stock, but not a single supply.”

She said large quantities of food purchased in anticipation of supplies eventually became unusable and had to be discarded.

“The things I have thrown away are unimaginable. Because they made us register, we bought a lot of foodstuff, but we had to throw it away because it went bad.”

According to her, some suppliers lost hundreds of bags of maize after the commodities became infested.

“Someone had to throw away 500 bags. I threw away 300 bags of maize. I didn’t even get to supply one bag, and that is what pains us and breaks our heart.”

Madam Abedua said the financial pressure had become so severe that some suppliers could no longer remain at home because creditors and banks were pursuing them.

“I can’t even stay home because the banks are coming after us. We have run losses.”

She said the suppliers had done everything expected of them but were yet to receive payment or, in some cases, even supply opportunities.

“They didn’t give us jobs and have refused to pay us our monies.”

She therefore urged the government to treat the matter as urgent, stressing that suppliers were facing real hardship and needed the money not only to settle their debts, but also to meet pressing health and family needs.

Also read:

• We’re not threatening you, but engage us within two weeks – Free SHS suppliers…

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