At Monday PAC Sitting: 12 Institutions Recommended for Prosecution, Interest Rate on SLTF to Be Reviewed
Twelve out of thirteen public institutions cited for financial and administrative infractions in the Auditor-General’s December 2024 Report have been recommended to the Attorney-General for prosecution by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The affected institutions include the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Western Regional Health Directorate, Agona East Health Directorate, Amansie South District Education Directorate, Ghana Education Service (Tepa), Jirapa Municipal Education Directorate, and Twifo Praso District Education Office.
Others are the Kwahu Afram Plains North District Education Service, Dormaa West Education Directorate, Government Secretariat School (Ho and Sekondi campuses), and the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.
The institutions were earlier given 48 hours and up to 30 days to address various irregularities cited in the Auditor-General’s report, including rent defaults, unearned salaries, and unlawful payments for allowances for persons with disabilities. However, they failed to comply within the stipulated period.
Appearing before the PAC, the Auditor-General, Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, disclosed that only the Achimota Hospital had rectified its infraction by providing verified documentation to support a previously unsupported payment of GH¢62,360.
“The other 12 institutions have not fully recovered monies related to the irregularities they were cited for,” Mr Asiedu told the Committee, adding that none had offered any explanation for their failure to act within the deadline.
The Ranking Member and Acting Chairperson of the PAC, Mr Samuel Atta Mills, therefore recommended that all the defaulting institutions be referred to the Attorney-General for prosecution.
“I will recommend all those who failed to respond or act within 30 days to the Attorney-General for prosecution,” he stated.
In a related development, the Minister of Education, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, appearing before the PAC, hinted at a possible review of the interest rate applied by the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF).
He said the current system, which compounds interest on student loans, was unfair to graduates who struggle to find jobs after school.
“A student gets a loan, completes school without employment, and you compound interest mathematically; it is not fair. We may have to return to a fairer interest regime, while safeguarding the Fund’s sustainability,” Mr Iddrisu said.
He announced that students of the Ghana School of Law were now eligible to apply for loans under the SLTF, and reiterated the need for timely disbursement of funds by the Ministry of Finance to ensure the success of the government’s ‘No Fee Stress’ initiative.
The Minister also urged government to allocate 2.5 per cent of the country’s oil revenue to human capital development and proposed the merger of the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat and the SLTF into a single entity — the Ghana Bursaries and Scholarship Authority — to streamline bursary and loan administration.
Mr Iddrisu further cautioned tertiary institutions against exploiting the ‘No Fee Stress’ initiative by increasing fees, warning that such practices defeat the purpose of the policy.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
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