News:
April 30, 2015
The Member of Parliament for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA), Dr. Nana Ato Arthur has indicated that for government to consider making students pay for Utility fees is unfortunate, as this will make the system less sympathetic of the plight of ordinary Ghanaians.
He said: “we should reckon that there is disparity in the conditions of life of every Ghanaian,” therefore not everyone can even afford the proposed cost sharing approach which had been introduced through the UPSA declaration.
Speaking on the Badwam platform on Adom TV on Thursday, April, 30, the KEEA legislator pointed out that the Utility fee under consideration currently is inappropriate for students to bear.
The UPSA declaration provided a roadmap for cost sharing between the government and tertiary institutions for the payment of utility bills.
THE UPSA DECLARATION
Representatives of major stakeholders in tertiary education in Ghana, suppliers of public utilities and allied institutions met at the auditorium of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA), at the instance of the Ministry of Education, on 25th March, 2015 to:
• Discuss strategies for sustainable consumption of utilities in tertiary education institutions;
• Craft innovative alternative means of providing utilities in tertiary education institutions; and
• Make recommendations to inform Government policy regarding the utilization of utilities in tertiary education institutions.
However, Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr John Alexander Ackon in his analysis on the phenomenon noted that its implementation was tenable, therefore Ghanaians must support it.
He said government shoulders many obligations; hence it expends more with a lot of financial commitments on its head. As such the fees, he anticipated will not overburden students as speculated.
“A ten cedi commitment by students is nothing serious which would have a far reaching benefit on the system for us; GHS 10 effect per head has a maximum significance in such instance. Is possible let’s manage it, he argued.
Jonathan J.Adjei/Ghanadistricts.com