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Parliament Wednesday passed the $156-million International Development Association (IDA) loan facility to finance the Ghana Secondary School Education Improvement Project, despite protestations from the Minority group. The loan is to be used to construct 23 new senior high schools (SHSs) in selected districts, improve 50 existing SHSs through the expansion and rehabilitation of existing structures and facilities, as well as quality improvement to an additional 75 existing SHSs. According to the project cost breakdown, as contained in the agreement, the construction of the 23 new schools would cost $98.9 million, while upgrading of the 75 existing SHSs was valued at $9 million. Expansion of the 50 schools to increase capacity to absorb more students would cost $16 million, while scholarships for 10,400 students to pursue SHS education for three years would cost $15.6 million. A whopping $15.9 million of the loan, however, is to be used for research, monitoring and evaluation, an amount that far exceeds what is to be set aside for the upgrading of the 75 existing SHSs and is almost equivalent or equal to what is to be used for the expansion of the 50 schools. That, the Minority said, was unacceptable, hence its vote against the deal. What is worse, part of the amount is to be used to procure sanitary pads for students. In spite of the vehement disagreement by the Minority, the Majority got the loan agreement approved as a result of the fact that it had a larger number in the House. The loan has a 1.25 per cent interest rate, 20-year repayment period, 60-month grace period, a 0.5 per cent per annum commitment charge on the principal amount not withdrawn (effective 2015), a service charge of 0.75 per cent per annum on the withdrawn balance and a 25-year maturity period. The Minority's contention The Minority's views, forcefully articulated by the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, was that it was unacceptable to use $15.9 million or 10 per cent of the contract sum for mere monitoring and evaluation. He was of the view that a huge chunk of the money could be ploughed back into the construction of new structures or the upgrading of old ones. He said the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education whose staff members would conduct the research, monitoring and evaluation already had much capacity and spending such a huge amount on them could never be justified. "How can we spend $15.9 million for monitoring and evaluation and only $9 million to upgrade 75 existing schools and $16 million to expand 50 schools? We cannot approve such a deal. I urge this House to ask the minister to recalibrate this loan. Enough due diligence has not been done on this loan. We should not approve this loan unless the project cost breakdown could be justified," he said. The MP for Weija/Gbawe, Ms Rosemond Comfort Abrah (NPP), wondered how the government could use taxpayers' money to procure sanitary pads, adding that the action was indefensible. "We must be serious in this country," she said. Prof Dominic Fobih (NPP Assin South) said some of the items listed in the loan agreement, such as uniform fabrics, school sandals, pens and pencils, could be procured with internally generated funds and added that when such loan agreements were being crafted, it was important to bring on board members of the Education Committee of Parliament for their input. The Majority's views Mr Mahama Ayariga (NDC, Bawku Central), who echoed the views of the Majority group, said the use of $15.9 million for research, monitoring and evaluation was justified. He said part of the money would be used to conduct an impact valuation cost, while another part would be expended on the creation of an ICT platform to electronically monitor the progress of work. He said part of the money would also be used to procure vehicles for the district education offices to monitor construction in the various locations in the country. Mr Ayariga explained that due to the fact that the construction and expansion would occur in more than 100 different locations in the country, it would be expedient to procure vehicles to take officials round the various sites. The vote After all the arguments had been made, the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, who was in the Speaker's chair, sought a voice vote on the issue and after it had been conducted, he ruled that the report had been adopted. But the Minority challenged the ruling and called for a head count. When the head count was conducted, 105 members had voted for the adoption of the report, while 83 had voted against it. In the consequent resolution, the Minority abstained from voting.