Fallot From “Kufour Lies Twice…”: The Searchlight Got It Wrong

The Administrator of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, Mr Fosuaba A. Banahene, has told the Searchlight that indeed the GETFund has set aside an amount of C1,460 Billion (Cedis) for the National Institute of Pytochemistry and Molecular Biology to be set up in Kumasi.

However, he also disclosed that the money has yet to be assessed, as stated by the Searchlight on Wednesday.

Speaking to the Searchlight in a chat in his office in Accra on Thursday, Mr Fosuaba A. Banahene said the money was set aside in 2003 and was part of the GETFund's Distribution Formula presented to Parliament in 2003 and subsequently approved. This money has not been assessed, we emphasized, and Mr. Banahene has confirmed. He insisted that the National Council for Tertiary Education has written proposals and proposed institute, and showed documents purporting to show same.

Mr Banahene was reacting to our front-page story on Wednesday March 24, 2004, titled 'In Just Two Weeks…Kufour Lies Twice!...On GETFund & SSNIT.” In that publication the Searchlight had stated that Mr John Agyekum Kufour, the Head of State, had lied in two in just two short weeks, the Head of State, Mr. John Agyekum Kufour stances concerning the setting up of the National Phytochemistry and Molecular Biology in Kumasi and the assertion that government was the guarantor of the SSNIT Pension Scheme.

The Searchlight's accusation that the Head of State Mr John Agyekum Kufour had lied was based on an interview conducted by a reporter of the paper, Mr Seth Addi, on Monday March 22, in which the reporter insists that Mr Banahene told him categorically that the Fund had not paid out a pesewa towards the National Institute of Phytochemistry and Molecular Biology. The paper quoted Mr Banahene as saying, “We haven't given them any money yet.”