The government has been requested by the head of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee to review the current system of guarantors that helps workers pay for their higher education.
The Chairman of the Committee asserts that after completing their programs, the majority of beneficiaries fail to abide by the terms and conditions of the agreement, adding that this makes it challenging for the State to recoup its investment in these employees.
James Klutse Avedzi believed that in order to easily identify defaulted workers, the government should permit interested applicants to use banks as guarantors rather than specific people.
Mr. Avedzi made this statement during the Committee's ongoing public hearing when the Ministry of Health and its various agencies appeared before them to address a number of violations listed in the Auditor General's Report on the Public Accounts of Ghana, Ministries, Departments, and Other Agencies (MDAs) for the year ended December 31, 2020.
When the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Chief Director, and Senior Officers of the Health Service appeared before the Committee, along with the Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman Manu, the Chairman ordered the arrest of two guarantors of two former employees of Korle-bu Teaching Hospital for failing to fulfill bonds after being sponsored to pursue their higher education.
The former employees of Korle-bu Teaching Hospital are alleged to have broken their bonds and failed to reimburse Gh 98,546.00 that was used to pay for their international studies, according to the Auditor-General's report.
Members of the Committee questioned those from the Ministry of Health, as well as representatives from organizations like NTC-Pantang, the Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics, and Nurses Training College Damongo, among others, about the inquiries cited in the Auditor-General's Report.