Administrator of Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), Dr. Richard Ampofo Boadu, has stated that, there was a huge debt in GETFund in the year 2017. He mentioned that most of the contractors had not been paid and this debt really affected the Funds work.
According to him, an issue was put before the parliament to cut down on the money that the Fund was receiving. The Capping and Realignment Act was responsible for the cut down of the fund’s money, he explained. Dr. Boadu mentioned that this act really affected the operations of the fund particularly the infrastructure projects, which took a big cut of the fund’s resources. He said that out of the 2.5 million dollars they received, 40% was given to the government.
“At that time, the contractors were putting pressure on us, meanwhile the money we were supposed to get to use to pay them had also been reduced. It was a difficult situation and we had to think out of the box, so we decided to get a loan in order to take care of this problem.”
Dr. Richard Ampofo Boadu
There was a huge infrastructure deficit when the Free SHS came along, he said, adding that the increased number in students population was a contributing factor to the difficulties the Fund was facing and this was why they had to go for the loan.
“We used a funding mix and the money we take from the government belongs to the government of Ghana and the money we took from the bond is what we decided to use to pay the contractors.”
Dr. Richard Ampofo Boadu
Dr. Ampofo explained that the contractors are guaranteed to receive their money latest by two weeks if they sign the innovation bond.
STU request for increase in GETFund allocation
The management of Sunyani Technical Univeristy (STU) however are demanding an increase in their yearly GETFund allocation to help complete the Science Park Project, which began almost 20 years ago.
Vice Chancellor of STU, Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah stated in an interview that the annual allocation of money to the university by GETFund was inadequate. He appealed to the President to grant a special GETFund allocation to the university to aid the completion of the Science Park Project.
The Vice Chancellor also called for the construction of the four -kilometer road that lies within the university’s campus particularly the road that joins the main campus to the water -logged area of the university. This, he said, was going to help staff and students to avoid being covered in dust and mud during the harmattan and rainy season respectively.
Professor Adinkrah also asked for a footbridge to be constructed across the university’s main entrance to curb the frequent knockdowns of individuals by motorists. He appealed for funds to help solve the issue of the shrewd state of the staff office and the classroom accommodation problems the university is facing.
He called on the alumni, business partners, philanthropists and the entire public to aid in the development of the institution, in order to fulfil its mandate of training future leaders who are vested in entrepreneurship and industrialization to enhance job and wealth creation in Ghana and beyond.
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