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The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has completed 3,001 projects between 2017 and 2024.
Out of the number, over 1,820, representing 61 per cent of the projects, predated the stated period, while the remaining 1,174, representing 39 per cent, are new initiatives.
A statement issued in Accra said the availability of the bond funds to GETFund ensured the completion of a significant number of facilities in secondary schools within a short period.
“With the help of these funds under the project codenamed: ‘Emergency Secondary Intervention Projects’, Basic Schools Improvement Initiative, TVET Centres of Excellence, Model STEM Schools, Model KGs, among others, 3,001 projects have been completed between 2017 and 2024.
These projects include 1,827 (61 per cent) inherited (legacy) projects, whereas 1,174 (39 per cent) are new project initiatives,” a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations at GETFund, Isaac Asiedu-Odei, said.
In addition, it said 2,770 plus GETFund-sponsored vehicles were supplied to schools and institutions, 677,000 school furniture were funded via GETFund, 4,500 motorbikes were supplied to the Ghana Education Service (GES) Circuit Supervisors, 260 district directors of education benefited from 4x4 pick-up vehicles, while 16 Regional Directors of GES received V6 Toyota Prado vehicles.
It said it was critical to highlight that, within this period, the fund was able to clear all debts owed contractors based on submitted interim payment certificates from 2013 to 2019.
“Per the narrative above, GETFund is free from any incumbrance arising from the purposeful bond issuance it engaged in.
“Let it be emphasised that GETFund budget is one of the most scrutinised in Parliamentary records. The budget (distribution formula) as prepared by the trustees is submitted to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education for its study and advice”.
“Thereafter, same is presented to the Committee of the Whole for further scrutiny before it is forwarded to Plenary for debate and approval,” it said.
The statement said all the budgets presented to Parliament within the syndication and the bond programme period had detailed updates on how funds raised had been disbursed to finance urgent educational needs.
“From the above, it is evident that funds allocated or accrued to GETFund are managed by a very competent and credible Board of Trustees and therefore these funds cannot be misapplied or misallocated for purposes not in sync with the educational goals of the Education Ministry and, for that matter, Government of Ghana.
“This should clarify the misconceptions that surround the partial securitisation of a portion of the Fund’s receivables meant to raise medium-term facility and how such funds were utilised in a very transparent and efficient manner towards urgent educational projects and programmes to boost educational outcomes,” it said.
On the Daakye Plc, the statement said it was a necessity.
It said it had been discussed by some prominent persons in public discourse that the GETFund receivables had been collateralised to the tune of $1.5 billion since 2018.
Those personalities said the situation had impaired the ability of the fund to carry out its mandate effectively.
The statement said the fund did not have access to its routine receivables for its activities.
It added that the GETFund receivables had not been collateralised and that portions of the receivables had been securitised to raise funds to realise its urgent activities.
It said that did not mean that GETFund did not have access to its mandatory receivables. GETFund, it said, via Daakye Plc, had not received the cedi equivalent of $1.5 billion into its vault and that Daakye Plc issued bonds to raise funds for GETFund.
The funds, the statement said, had been utilised judiciously for the public good.
The rollout of the government flagship Free SHS/SHTS/TVET programme, beginning the 2017/2018 school year, it said, led to an unprecedented surge in enrolment figures in senior high schools. Dormitories, classrooms, toilets, vehicles, science laboratories and furniture, among others, were acutely strained.
The quest for additional facilities, it said, was compounded by some stalled or abandoned projects being funded on the account of GETFund in the various schools and educational institutions as contractors were owed for certificates they submitted dating back to 2013.
“There was, therefore, the need for the fund to adopt innovative ways to raise immediate funds to support the implementation of this historic Government of Ghana initiative and other educational activities.
“The Board of Trustees therefore tabled a proposal to Cabinet through the Ministry of Education for the initial securitisation of part of GETFund statutory receivables to raise short to medium-term facility. The proposal was subsequently presented to Parliament for its approval,” it said.
Parliament, it said, approved a cedi equivalent of $1.5 billion to be raised in three tranches of $500 million each.
It said the fund engaged CalBank and the Standard Chartered Bank in a loan syndication effort to raise the first tranche of the cedi equivalent of $500 million.
That arrangement, it said, was able to raise only GH¢1.57 billion in 2018/2019.
“Having realised the shortfall in the loan syndication capacity to raise the targeted amount of first tranche of the $500 million in the cedi equivalent, the trustees, with the necessary approval sought, set up the Special Purpose Vehicle (Daakye Plc) to facilitate that Bond programme, which was to raise the cedi equivalent of $1.5 billion. That bond issuance raised a total of GH¢2.6 billion between 2020 and 2022,” it explained.
