GETFund needs holistic review - Dep. Finance Minister

Accra, March 19, GNA - Mr Seth Terkpeh, Deputy Minister of Finance a= nd Economic Planning, on Thursday said the cedi's depreciation worsened the situation of a bad budget practice in the disbursement of the GETFund by the previous administration. He said it was only when the GETFund (Ghana Education Trust Fund) wa= s reviewed holistically that Ghana could find answers to most questions regarding its administration. Mr Terkpeh said this in reaction to a question by Mr Ofuso Asamoah, member for Kade, who wanted to know how much money had been released to t= he GETfund since January 2007 to September 2009.

He said an amount of A2496,101,558.32 was released to the GETFund Secretariat between January 2007 and September 2009. Mr Terkpeh said in 2007 an amount of A2161,332,660 was released, 20= 08 had an amount of A2224,442,843 and A2110,326,055.32 was released in 200= 9. When asked by Dr Anthony Akoto, member for Old Tafo that the GETFund Administration said it had received only 100 million Ghana cedis, Mr Terk= peh explained that the government inherited an accumulation of arrears for th= e previous years, some of which were cleared but others were not made known= .. Mr Terkpeh said in 2009, A2242.005 million cedis was released and f= rom September 2009 to early this year further A2142 million was released.