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The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has given an assurance of its readiness to support the completion and effective take-off of the National Defence University being championed by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
It has, therefore, asked the GAF to furnish it with the plan for completion as to whether the project would be in phases and whether the total cost was required. “We have to know so that we can also have an idea what we have to allocate and the contribution that we have to make,” The Administrator of GETFund, Dr Richard Ampofo Boadu, said to the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of the GAF, Lt General Thomas Oppong Peprah.
Dr Boadu said since the fund got its budgetary approval straight from Parliament and it was based on yearly, and maybe a mid-year opening, “my advice is that we should have an idea of the total budget that you need so that I can convey it to my board”.
Alternatively, he said if it was the wish of the GAF that the GETFund takes up the full funding of the university, “then the total amount has to come to the fund and we can say that we can fund this over a period of maybe five or 10 years based on budgetary allocation”.
The matter came up when the CDS led a team of high-powered officers of the forces to pay a courtesy call to the GETFund Administrator in Accra last Thursday. The visit was also to strengthen the existing relationship between the two institutions and to express appreciation to GETFUND for the warm congratulatory message extended to him upon his appointment as CDS.
Touching on uncompleted projects at the various tertiary institutions under the Armed Forces, Dr Boadu advised the GAF to recall contractors to reactivate all stalled projects. He said GETFund had currently developed a new system, where there was a pool of funds, that every institution in the tertiary sector could draw from it.
Dr Boadu said unlike previously where contractors were not allowed to work beyond the allocated fund, “now, we are saying that let the contractor work to its maximum capacity and bring the request to draw from the pool.
“So, it is on a first come first serve. When you do that and the contractor is able to work at his own pace and finish and money is disbursed, then the following year, another money is allocated,” he explained.
He was hopeful that with the current arrangement, it would speed up a number of the projects that have been stalled in the education sector. Dr Boadu announced that an amount of GH¢10 million had already been set aside for work at the university.
In response, Lt General Peprah explained that during the handing over notes, he was briefed by his predecessor that GETFund was a friend and partner of the Ghana Armed Forces as far as academic institutions were concerned.
“So, he advised that I maintain the relationship,” he revealed and added that he would not only maintain but enhance it. Lt General Peprah announced that the National Defence University would bring all the institutions under the GAF and listed as the National College of Defence Studies, the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, among others.
He said the GAF was collaborating with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to seek for Presidential Charter for the university. The CDS acknowledged the support of GETFund, dating back to 2010, recalling specifically, the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College.
