The company that the Akufo-Addo government sole-sourced the contract to supply laptops to teachers across the country is apparently a shell company being used by corrupt politicians to milk teachers, reports reveal.
It has emerged that the company, K. A Technologies is not registered and has not had approval from the Ghana Standards Authority to import the laptops.
Mr. Stephen Desu, the founder of Innovative Teachers Association and Albert Danson Amoah, General Secretary of All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG), revealed that they have received a response from the Registrar General confirming that K.A. Technologies does not exist on its database as a registered company.
Mrs. Jemima M. Oware is said to have made this known to the two in a reply to their request for the names of the Directors and Secretary of K.A Technologies Ghana Limited.
What this means is that the company which has been contracted to supply the laptops under the Vice President’s corruption-laden ‘one teacher, one laptop’ program may be a ghost company set up to fleece the teachers and the wider taxpayers.
Again, the two unions have said that they wrote to the Ghana Standards Authority to ascertain if they have approved the controversial TM1 laptops that the company is supplying. To this, Prof. Alex Dodoo, Director-General of the Authority replied that the Authority has not even received any request for certification or quality evaluation from any company called K.A. Technologies Ghana Limited.
This has sent shockwaves through the general public as they question how a company that has not been registered got sole-sourced to supply Ghanaian teachers with laptops under Vice Bawumia’s tutelage.
And without certification from the Standards Authority, K.A Technologies has already supplied some of the laptops.
The signs strongly suggest the popular phenomenon of “create, loot and share”.
Meanwhile, the websites of the company were created in 2021, indicating the company is probably a shell company hurriedly packaged just for the dubious sole-sourced contract.
Even though it is not a registered company at the Registrar General’s Department, K.A Technologies was on the 4th of November, 2020 registered at the Public Procurement Authority and then subsequently registered by SSNIT in November of the same year.
“The laptops of K.A. Technologies that were distributed to some teachers not long ago have started breaking down. How did K. A Technologies get this contract to manufacture 280,000 laptops or 350,000 at a time when its laptop has not been certified by Ghana Standards Authority? The Ministry of Education has supervised the distribution of uncertified laptops to teachers contrary to the laws of Ghana,” the Unions said in a statement.
Already, the two Unions have sued the government in court over the contract, stating in their affidavit that they believe K.A Technologies was hurriedly packaged to be used for the contract for faceless people.
Source: whatsupnewsghana