GETFund Gives More Support To Legon

TGETFund Administrator, Mr Ofosuaba Mensah-Banahene (2nd left), interacting with Prof. Yaw Sarfo Boafo (middle), Chairman of the fund. With them include the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. C.N.B.Tagoe (2nd right.

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has allocated ¢4.2 billion (GH ¢420,000) to the University of Ghana, Legon, this year for the provision of infrastructure and other facilities.

Apart from that, the GETFund has also allocated ¢13 billion (GH¢ 1.3 million) to the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana at Korle-Bu.

The Administrator of the Fund, Mr Fosuaba Mensah-Banahene, announced this when he led the Chairman of the GETFund Board, Prof. Yaw Sarfo Boafo, to tour projects being undertaken by the Fund at the University of Ghana.

They included the multi-purpose School of Performing Arts building, Balme Library expansion project and the 12,000-seating capacity stadium which would be used as one of the training pitches for the African Cup of Nations in Ghana next January.

Mr Mensah-Banahene indicated that as of the end of last year, the total inflow to the GETFund was about ¢4 trillion (GH¢ 400 million), adding that ¢2.2 trillion (GH¢ 220 million) was allocated to tertiary institutions in the country for infrastructure, scholarship, research and equipment, among other things.

According to him, the Fund, which began from a modest level, had contributed greatly to the improvement and delivery of education in the country.
He said it had been misconstrued by many that the GETFund was responsible for the provision of facilities in educational institutions, adding that the law that established the Fund said that it was only supplementing efforts of the government.

Mr Mensah-Banahene said there were lot of GETFund projects scattered all over the country, a sign that the state of educational institutions had changed.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe, said the first GETFund allocation , which was ¢14.7 billion GH¢ (1.47 million) in 2002, had increased to ¢43 billion (GH¢ 4.3 million).

He said with the increase of student population in the 1990s as a result of the introduction of the senior secondary school (SSS) system, there was the need to increase and expand facilities to cater for the large number of students.

He said the library which was being expanded would be automated, stating that the facility was the hub upon which every university operated.

Prof. Boafo, who commended the university for the proper utilisation of the funds given to it, said he was happy with the progress of work at the university campus.

He said on assumption of office, he wanted to acquaint himself with what the Fund was doing on Legon campus.

He charged the contractor working on the stadium project to hasten work on the facility, which would be used during the African Cup of Nations in Ghana.

He said the tournament was very dear to the hearts of Ghanaians, and thus the need to speed up work.
The Managing Director of Consar Limited, which is in charge of the stadium project, gave the assurance that the facility would be ready for the tournament.

“We are on course and would not disappoint anyone,” he emphasised.

Story by Emmanuel Bonney