Under heavy pressure from the Minority NPP in Parliament, President John Mills, on Wednesday April 22, inaugurated a new GETFund Board, paving the way for Parliament to approve the proposed formula for disbursing the GH¢275 million allocated to the fund in the 2009 national budget. Until April 22, there was no GETFund Board, as the old Board was dissolved alongside other boards and commissions by the President in the early weeks of his administration. On Tuesday April 21, Minority MPs blocked debate on the new formula on grounds that it would have been unlawful for the House to adopt and approve a formula that did not receive prior approval from the GETFund Board. At a hurriedly arranged ceremony on Tuesday, the new board was inaugurated with Mr. Sam Garba as the Administrator. Speaking to Citi News, Majority Leader, Hon Alban Bagbin confirmed that the House eventually approved the new formula at a meeting late Tuesday. “A lot of issues were considered. The restructuring of government premises, particularly schools and the rest in order to answer the needs of the disabled has been considered and provisions made for the district assemblies to start implementing the law that was passed by Parliament. We also looked at the needs of needy students and provisions have been made also to respond to brilliant students who otherwise cannot pay for a lot of the services that are rendered in the institutions,” he said. According to him, “we have also considered the gender issue and in fact district assemblies have been called upon to use some amount to support the gender desk so the issue of mainstreaming gender and the affirmative action can now be seriously implemented.” He stated that apart from the usual allocations for investments, construction of school facilities and monies for the MPs micro projects, a lot of innovative matters have been taken on board. Hon. Bagbin told Citi News that the House could however not take a decision on the formula for disbursement of the National Health Insurance Scheme Funds. He however said adequate measures have been taken to ensure the scheme meets all its financial obligations until the formula is approved. “We had to refer that back to the ministry to look at it again and refine a lot of procedure hiccups and then finally bring it to the house, but this is likely to be either late May or early June so that one hasn’t been approved,” he said. The House will resume on May 26, 2009. Source: citifmonline.com