Budget for Ministry of Education inadequate
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 March 2002 - Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance on Friday explained in Parliament that although Ghana has joined the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, the country still pays interest on some debts.
He said interests on bilateral loans were deferral and benefits from those from institutions like the IMF and the World Bank would be enjoyed after two years.
"There is a cut-off point on some of the loans, some of which are classified as bilateral, multi-lateral and commercial loans and interest on some of them have to be serviced."
Mr Osafo-Maafo was reacting to a challenge Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah; NDC-Wenchi West posed to him as to why he indicated interest payment the country's domestic and external debts in the budget for the Services of Other Government Obligations for the year 2002 when the budget estimates were being debated.
The House approved approximately 6.9 trillion cedis for Other Government Obligations, which Mr Osafo-Maafo said covered statutory organisation like pensions, SSNIT pensions, interest on domestic and external debts, district assemblies common fund and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
Parliament also approved 234.6 billion cedis for the services of the Ministry of Finance. The services of the Government Machinery received 183.3 billion cedis, while National Media Commission (NMC) got 945 million cedis.
Others were the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), 16.9 billion cedis, the Public Services Commission (PSC), 1.7 billion cedis, the Audit Service, 25.9 billion cedis, while 39.2 billion cedis was approved for the Office of Parliament.
The House approved a loan agreement of 15.2 million dollars between Ghana and the African Development Fund to finance the Akatsi-Dzodze-Noepe road rehabilitation project.
According to a Business Statement, Parliament would rise "sine die" on Monday, March 18, after approving the rest of the estimates for other MDAs, while its Appointments Committee would meet to have a public hearing on Mr Justice Dixon Kwame Afreh for the appointment as a member of the Supreme Court.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 March 2002 - Members of Parliament on Friday said the annual budget estimates of the Ministry of Education was inadequate and did not reflect the needs of the ministry and its various units.
Mr James Adusei-Sarkodie, Chairman of the Committee on Education said after thoroughly examining the Draft Annual Estimates and satisfying itself that the amount would be used for the intended purpose, recommended that the sum of 1.8 trillion cedis be approved or the ministry.
Ms Christian Churcher, Minister of Education in charge of Primary, Secondary and Girl Child moved the Motion for the approval of the sum for the services of the ministry for the 2002 fiscal year.
Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC- Hohoe South said in supporting the motion he had observed a lot of inadequacies that must be addressed to enable the ministry to perform its onerous duty to the nation.
He, therefore, called for the formation of a budgetary implementation committee that would critically analyse the budget and make it to reflect all activities of the ministry devoid of duplications.
Mr Kedem said there was the need to look for other sources of funding for the ministry since out of the 1.8 trillion cedis about 1.4 trillion cedis was meant for salaries alone.
He said Parliament should also examine the budget very critically to ensure that there was enough money earmarked for development under the Ministry of Education. "The budget is silent on how much actually is to be spent on education while contributions from Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and internally generated funds are not reflected in the budget".
Mr Kedem said there had been a lot of misplaced emoluments in the budget estimates and cited the appendixes where 18.3 billion cedis had been earmarked for consultancy alone and only three billion for training. He said last year 14 billion cedis was used for library books alone whereas there were no libraries in most schools.
He said under the National Council for Tertiary Education, 154 million cedis was earmarked for established schools, 1.9 billion for non-established schools and 575 billion cedis for miscellaneous allocation.
Under the national Board for Proficiency and Technical Examination, 453 million cedis was earmarked for miscellaneous allocation, 185 million cedis for non-established schools and 100 million cedis for established schools.
Nana Asante-Frempong, NPP-Kwabre, questioned whether Ghanaians were deriving the maximum benefit from the huge budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Education.
He said most graduates from the tertiary institutions, secretariat schools and the senior secondary schools failed to contribute their expertise to the business community because of their limited education.
Dr William Boakye Akoto, NPP-Birim North, said the ministry and its units was too huge to be managed effectively and for realistic distribution of funds and suggested that the ministry should be separated into pre-tertiary education and for tertiary education.
Mr Akwasi Afrifa, NPP-Fomena, said the government was concerned about the issue of ghosts names always appearing on pay vouchers and called for regular exercises to reduce the magnitude that was a drain on the national economy.
He called on the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Library Board to consider the establishment of mobile library services especially in rural schools.
Mr Mumuni Abudu Seidu, NDC- Wa Central, called for a review of the 1961 Education Act to address the current problems and to allow for the State to lend its assistance instead of leaving establishment of structures on the communities or district assemblies.
He said pre-education which was a specialised area should not be left in the hands of non-professionals since the first four years of children's education was of paramount importance to their upbringing.
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