All nineteen (19) physically-challenged employees of the chalk production department of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD) have been sent home because the society is broke and cannot pay them.

Chalk production, as Public Agenda has learnt, has come to a halt because the society cannot find buyers for its 30,000 boxes of chalk currently in stock.

This has compelled Mr. Alexander Tetteh, National Administrator of the GSPD to place an SOS call to the government, which last year purchased about 50,000 boxes of chalk at 3,200 cedis (Gp32) per box from the society although that was only after huge media and public outcry.

So far, separate negotiations the society has held with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) have yielded very little results, Public Agenda can report.

Attempts by Public Agenda to reach officials of both bodies for their reactions however proved unsuccessful.

During the recent Women's Fair organized by the Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) and its partner NGO coalitions, this paper caught up with Mr. Elvis Kosi Alipui, Chalk Production Manager, who led a team of workers to display some of their chalk at the fair.

In a chat with Public Agenda, Mr. Alipui lamented the plight of his colleagues who have been laid off because the Government has not come to the society's aid.

Confirming the plight of the society to this paper last Thursday, the Administrator stated categorically what his outfit is asking for: "Our beef is that at least they (government) should give us a quota because we are still in business."

He said if that is done "every year we will know that this is the quota we are working towards, then we will produce and supply to them."

He recalled that through the support of the media and the public, the society had a contract last year with the GES but "it was a one-time contract. It wasn't like the quota fixed for us that every year we supply so much."

In this light, "We think that government must be committed in buying and not allow us to compete with the private sector."

He pointed out that as an advocacy organization; the society lacks the clout and expertise in running a business, thus making it very difficult to compete with major producers.

Therefore, the society did not take part in this year's tendering process through which the GES was looking for bids from qualified bidders to supply six lots of chalk, each lot being not less than 240,000 boxes.

He said primarily, the society did not put in a bid because there were a lot of stringent requirements with regards to the tender such as a bank guarantee and a business plan.

However, upon the recommendation of Hon Angelina Baiden-Amissah, Deputy Minister in charge of Basic Education the society submitted a letter on the sidelines and the "GES actually accepted in principle to give us another contract this year, we are working on it but they haven't given us an official letter to that effect."

Stressing the need to save the society's business, he said "we set this up as a model and as an example for both the private sector and government to emulate."

On the other hand, a contract signed between them and GNAPS did not prove viable because their expectations were not met, he disclosed.

"We thought that the association will buy in bulk and distribute it or ask their schools to pick them up but that wasn't the arrangement."

Rather, GNAPS wrote to member institutions to ask them to buy chalk from the society, after which they issued the society with a letter of introduction that will enable the society to go round the schools to sell the chalk, he told this paper.

"One problem with that venture is that it looks quite expensive because we need to move with our vehicles and convey the things to the schools. Sometimes, we go and a school just picks one box. Considering the cost of fuel involved in driving to that place it doesn't look economically viable."

"So we negotiated and they said that they don't have the means to be able to distribute the chalk so we should do that. That was the deal."

Meanwhile, bureaucratic procedures at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) seem to have added to the headache of the society.

The Administrator revealed that the chalk production department is also not in operation partly because currently their drier is not functioning.

The drier, according to him, needs a three-phase electricity system, however the society only have one phase system. They have applied to the ECG but they have so far been unsuccessful in getting the changes to be effected due to bureaucracy at the power supply outfit.