Deputy Communications Director of the University of Ghana Chapter of Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), Pius Gumbah, has described the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund) as an albatross.
This was in response to the finance minister’s proposed reduction of the GETfund levy by 39%. According to the minister, 39% of the GETfund levy will be allocated to educational projects with the remaining 61% diverted into other sectors in the economy.
Speaking to UniversNews, Pius Gumbah alleged that not all funds generated from the GETfund levy in the previous year were released. According to him, the fund no longer serves its intended purpose as was previously intended due to the capping of the fund. He went on to bemoan the finance minister’s decision due to the lack of justifiable reason for the capping.
“The GETfund we used to know as the Ghana Education Trust Fund has now turned into the Ghana Education Trash Fund. It has turned to trash. This is because you could see from history that they did something we call capping, which means not all the funds were going to be released to the Minister of Education. You introduce something and tell us this is the purpose of it, and later on turn around and reduce it without any justifiable reason. So since then, not all the funds allocated for the year are released to GETfund, and this year it is so sad.”
Pius Gumbah further called for a ban on the proposed capping by the Minister of Finance. He urged the government to release the funds so that projects under GETfund can be completed.
“At least, even if you are doing something, come in and be like 10% if our budget is not working out so that we can help ourselves. But 61% is too much. This wasn’t the purpose of the fund, so we are just calling for a total ban on the capping. The Minister of Finance should remove his hands from it and leave it to GETfund so that they will be able to complete the abandoned projects.”
