SEND Ghana has indicated that only about 61 percent of revenue from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) levy accrues to the fund.

This revelation was made in the organisation’s 5-year trend analysis of Ghana’s budgetary allocations and presented at a forum of key stakeholders.

This comes amidst concerns of a huge disparity between allocated funds and actual releases to Ministries, Departments and Agencies.  

The forum sought to engage MPs, Civil society organisations, representatives from ministries and the media on national budgets spanning 2019 to 2023.

On average, the Ministry of Education received the highest share of the allocation of funds with about 12% in 2023.

However, this is still below the international standard level of 15%. In spite of this, not all the allocated amount is released to the ministry for use.

In 2023, it is projected that GHȼ4.64 billion will be generated from the GETFUND levy - out of this, only GHȼ1.87 billion will be released to the Ministry of Education which represents 40.3% of the revenue generated.

Senior Programmes Officer of SEND Ghana, Harriet Nuamah Agyemang raised concerns as to where the rest of the revenue goes and how efficiently it is used.

“Where do we put the remaining 60% and how would we know how that 60% is utilised for you and I to ask questions and demand transparency and accountability in how that money is spent?”, she queried.

Harriet also added that the amount allocated to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) is quite a small percentage of the total budget.

On average, only about 1.05% of the budget allocations goes to MOFA.

Meanwhile, the agriculture sector employs some 40% of youth in the country. Ghana’s commitment to the sector as a backbone of the economy is therefore in question.

According to Harriet, “agriculture is the backbone of this country. SEND Ghana thinks that we need to put our money where our mouth is by investing so much in Agriculture so that some of the basic things we need – food - we stop importing.”

SEND Ghana called on the government and the Ministry of Finance to be efficient in their execution of budget allocations and the release of funds to the various ministries.