SIGA PARTICIPATES IN GETFUND STAKEHOLDER FORUM
State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) has participated in a stakeholder engagement forum at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra.
The meeting organized by the Board of Trustees and Management of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) on November 8th 2022, provided a platform for GETFund to inform its key stakeholders of the projects and successes chalked so far. Additionally, the forum gave stakeholders the opportunity to share their concerns and suggestions for the improvement of the fund
Head of Corporate Affairs at SIGA, Mr. Stephen Asiedu who spoke on behalf of the Director-General of SIGA, applauded GETFund for the tremendous work done. He urged the Fund to harness the power of technology in the fulfillment of their mandate. He added that technology would improve effective monitoring of projects.
“With technology, we can monitor the fund and track the progress of projects with the click of a button. Beneficial institutions and individuals can also apply for support seamlessly and independently and this enhances transparency”, he added.
Honorable Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum in his key note address commended GETFund for efficiently using the “tax cedi”. He also highlighted on GETFund’s social intervention programs which according to him has helped government in achieving its Free SHS policy. He also added that, GETFund’s provision of infrastructure for schools has seen student enrolment increased from 830,000 in 2016 to 1.3m currently.
The Administrator of GETFund; Dr. Richard Ampofo Boadu in his presentation, disclosed that 2,259 projects had been completed from 2017 till date with 1,314 being Legacy projects and the remaining 945 being completely new projects. Included in the 2259 projects are 1114 projects for basic schools, 1002 projects for senior high schools, 14 E- blocks, 2 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centres and 127 Tertiary institution projects. He further shared insights on the GETFund Act, object, challenges and sources of funding which is 2.5% GETFund Levy, Parliamentary allocations, investment income, grants and vested property.
Other dignitaries present at the forum were Deputy Minister of Information; Hon. Fatimatu Abubakar, Deputy Minister of Education; Rev. Ntim Fordjour, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of GETFund; Prof. Dominic Fobih and some Vice Chancellors of Public Universities.
The GETFund ACT 581 which received Presidential assent in August 2000 and operationalized by the John Agyekum Kuffour government in 2001 has since its inception been committed to its mandate of providing finance and supplementing the provision of educational activities at all levels.