He said he has never ordered the contractor to keep the newly built school in Kaira under lock and key until he is there in person to cut the sod for the new school.
Mr Mallet thus gave the background to the contract to build the school in his jurisdiction, saying the contract was awarded under ‘The Schools Under Trees and Emergency Intervention Programme’ in August 2011 to be completed in June 2012, to last for just eight months.
He said the contractor of the school could not finish the project within the stipulated time of eight months, hence in july 2012, the consultants of the project wrote to the contractor to point it out to him that he is liable to a penalty for not finishing on time.
Mr Mallet said that was the last time there was any correspondence between the assembly and that project.
He also pointed out that in the beginning of 2021, the Volta Regional Minister Archibald Yaw Letsa invited them to ascertain whether there are projects yet to be commissioned. And he indicated to the Minister the projects that are outstanding including the D/A school in Kaira.
Mr Mallet said he reported to the Regional Minister that the school in Kaira seems to be completed but the contractor has not handed over the keys to the appropriate authorities to be commissioned.
He said this in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the New Day show on TV3, Tuesday, August 10.
Mr Mallet was speaking on the heels of a TV3 report on Monday, August 9, that the contractor of the newly built Kaira D/A school has kept the school under lock and key since 2012, without handing over to the district authorities. In an interview with the contractor Mr Larry Lasi on TV3 on Monday, he alleged that the reason why he has not opened the school for the students is because the District Chief Executive(DCE) ordered him to wait for him before opening the school for the students to study in it.
“That cannot be true, I have never said anything like that and I have never asked that anybody should wait for me. I have never met the contractor, I don’t even know him, I have never met him before, I have never spoken to him before. The PPMC consultants have never indicated that they were ready to hand over”, he said.
He continued “at anytime the projects are ready, what is done is that we send a technical team to inspect the project as to the specifications and work well done and then we will organize a meeting with the stakeholders, the community, the schools, director of education to the Head of the SMC and the PTA in the community to know that the work is done”.
Mr Mallet further pointed out that the contract was not awarded by the assemblies but by GETFund but the assembly monitors all projects including that of GETFund and that of the district.
By Barima Kwabena Yeboah|3news.com|Ghana
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