GETFund dead under Akufo-Addo – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has accused the Akufo-Addo led administration of collapsing the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

According to the NDC MPs, government has starved GETFund of enough resources contrary to 2.5% of Tax revenue per the Act.

“…The GETFund has a mandate and the mandate is established in Act 581 under section 2. [Thus] we need to resource the GETFund adequately to undertake this mandate,” said the Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu during the approval of the 2018 GETFund formula for distribution.

Admonishing the Finance Ministry to desist from capping the allocations to the fund, he said it is the view of the Minority that the 2.5% meant for the fund “should not even come to the Ministry of Finance again.”

From the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), he said the 2.5% should be sent directly to the fund for purposes of executing its mandate.

An amount of GH¢790, 224,149.00 for the Fund was, however, revised downwards to GH¢644, 265, 00.00 by the Ministry of Finance after the mid-year budget review.

But the Deputy Finance Minister Kwaku Kwarteng argued that enough allocation has been made to the fund.

He told Parliament that “…education expenditure for 2018 in real terms was much higher than 2016 and 2017.”

“If you would consider how much allocation was made to intervention such as the Free SHS which allocation was designated under the office of the president you would not come to the conclusion that education expenditures are dwindling.

“It is not and I think we must read in total the budget in order to make any such suggestion,” he added—a claim the Minority spokesperson on finance Ato Forson rejected.

According to him, the fund is being collapsed by the government and the resources meant for it are being used to pay teacher trainee allowances and other needless expenses.

This, he said will make the fund unable to pay its numerous contractors who have executed projects.

“…The truth must be told that the NPP administration have killed the Ghana Education Trust Fund. The Ghana Education Trust Fund is dead,” he told Starr News’ Parliamentary Correspondent Ibrahim Alhassan.