PAC Asks Government To Review Current Guarantor System For Workers To Pursue Higher Education

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has asked the government to review the current guarantor system used to support workers to pursue higher education.

According to the Chairman of the Committee, most of the beneficiaries do not comply with the terms and conditions of the agreement after completing their programmes, adding that this situation makes it difficult for the State to recover the investment made in these workers.

James Klutse Avedzi was of the view that government could allow interested applicants to use banks as guarantors instead of individuals so that defaulted workers can easily be tracked.

Mr. Avedzi made this known at the ongoing public hearing of the Committee when the Ministry of Health and their various agencies appeared before them to respond to a number of infractions cited in the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana, Ministries, Departments and Other Agencies (MDAs) for the year ended 31st December 2020.

When the Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman Manu, Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Chief Director and Senior Officers of the Health Service appeared before the Committee, the Chairman ordered the arrest of two guarantors of two former staff of Korle-bu Teaching Hospital for failing to fulfill bonds after being sponsored to pursue their higher education.

According to the report of the Auditor-General, the former workers of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital have failed to honour their bonds or refund an amount to the tune of Gh 98,546.00, which was spent on their studies abroad.

Members of the Committee asked questions relating to the queries cited in the Auditor-General’s Report and officials from the Ministry of Health and agencies including NTC-Pantang, Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics, Nurses Training College Damongo among others.