Over GHS5bn paid to contractors after audit validation – Agbodza

The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has revealed that an audit of contractor payments helped the government avert significant financial losses.

His comments come in response to concerns raised by the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GhCCI) over delays in releasing funds for the payment of outstanding Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs).

The Chamber had warned that the prolonged delays were threatening thousands of jobs and critical infrastructure projects nationwide.

In a letter dated September 29, 2025, and addressed to the Roads and Highways Minister, the Chamber expressed deep concern over what it described as the government’s failure to honour President John Dramani Mahama’s assurance that all outstanding payments would be cleared by the end of July 2025.

The group said the delays had caused severe financial strain on contractors, consultants, suppliers, and other industry players.

Speaking in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, October 14, Mr. Agbodza said the ministry took time to carefully scrutinise and validate all certificates submitted by contractors during the transition period to ensure accuracy and accountability.

He disclosed that about GHS 5 billion had since been paid to contractors following the completion of the audit and validation exercise.

“As of Friday, October 10, the Finance Minister started paying GHC5 billion owed to contractors out of the over GHC21 billion. The process was that the payment request may not be as it is.

He added, “The Auditor General and others carried out some validation of payments. If we had rushed to pay, we would have thrown away part of your money. Because during the validation, the amount we were told we owed is not exactly so.”

He noted that most of the arrears had significantly increased compared to the figures provided by the Akufo-Addo administration during the transition period.

“At the time of transition, the previous government told us that the bills unpaid for contractors at the Government of Ghana (GoG) were GHC21 billion; today, I know it’s far more than that. The road fund indebtedness, they told us, was GHC5.1 billion.

He stressed, “Today, I’m told it’s over GHC8 billion. GHC120 billion worth of projects were awarded, some of which didn’t even have commencement certificates. They didn’t even have an idea how the contractors were going to work. Indeed, some of the contractors never turned up on site since 2022 when the contract was awarded.”

He said he had already met with the contractors and received assurances of the government’s commitment to settle the arrears.

“And we assured them that the government was going to work to make sure that we make payments to projects duly executed. Since then, the Finance Minister has been to Parliament to present the 2025 budget statement, and they have committed a certain amount of money to retire arrears.

“It is part of the arrears that led to the payment of over GHC800 million towards the Ofankor project, and we have seen the contractor back on site,” he said.