Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday revolved after adjournment into a Committee of the Whole to consider the distribution of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) for the fiscal year 2023.
The committee again considered the proposed formula for distributing the District Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) in 2023, as well as the proposed formula for disbursing the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in 2023.
The three statutory funds play an important role in the development of the country’s education, health, and other social amenities.
The committee is expected to examine and make recommendations on the distribution formulas of expected inflows into the GETFund, DACF, and NHIF.
Distribution formulas for the three funds are developed in accordance with the government’s goal of improving education, health, roads, water, and other development projects at the national and local levels.
In 2022, the GETFund was expected to receive a total of GH¢2,600,802,275, with the formula’s spending structure aligned with the Education Sector Priority Projects and Programmes.
The provision for debt servicing (Bond Programme and Syndicated Loans residue) was a major area of spending for the year, as it had been in previous years.
It was estimated that 39.13 per cent of total spending would be allocated for this purpose, down from 60.02 per cent in 2021.
The Board had made a bold decision to address the issue of unfinished projects scattered across the country in various educational sub-sectors.
The goal was to complete 80 per cent of the projects in three years using a combination of bonds and GETFund Levy allocations.
The GETFund also took ownership of all ongoing projects at all sub-sectors to facilitate their completion.
Amendment of Act 581
In 2021, the committee determined that the GETFund Act, 2000 (Act 581) needed to be amended in order for the fund to perform more efficiently.
The MPs felt that the fund’s Board of Trustees, which consisted of 17 people (as provided in Section 6 of Act 581), was too large and needed to be reviewed.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House