The announcement by the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, that the government has allocated GH¢24.8 billion to statutory funds since January 2026 is more than a routine financial update. It is a significant shift in public financial management that deserves commendation and sustained commitment.
For years, the story of statutory funds has been that of delays, capping, arrears and diversion.
Funds established by law to provide critical public services — education, health, roads and local development — were often starved of resources, while the laws that created them were observed in the breach.
The result was predictable: dilapidated school infrastructure despite GETFund, health facilities turning away NHIS card holders, impassable feeder roads despite road tolls and levies, and district assemblies unable to undertake basic development projects.
By way of disbursement, GH¢24.8 billion has gone to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Road Maintenance Trust Fund, the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), the Free Senior High School Programme, the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, the Mineral Development Fund and the Mineral Income Investment Fund.
The minister was emphatic: “Unlike in the past, when payments were marked by delays, capping and arrears, we now release these funds on time and in full.
This ensures statutory funds have the money they need to provide the essential services required by law.”
This statement captures the core of the problem we have lived with.
The Public Financial Management Act requires that statutory funds be released promptly.
But previous administrations, faced with fiscal pressures, resorted to capping — artificially limiting how much of the collected levy actually goes to the intended fund — and then delayed even the capped amount.
The Ghana Education Trust Fund, for instance, was capped at 25 per cent of its 2.5 per cent VAT component, with the rest swept into the Consolidated Fund for other uses.
The NHIS suffered the same fate.
By the time money reached the implementing agencies, arrears had piled up, contractors had abandoned sites, and service providers had lost confidence.
The release of third-quarter funds for 2026, therefore, signals a return to legal compliance and fiscal discipline.
And its impact is not abstract. It directly affects the daily lives of Ghanaians.
When GETFund receives its money on time and in full, school buildings are completed, furniture is supplied, and the Ghana Education Trust Fund can support tertiary institutions with research grants and infrastructure.
When the Free SHS allocation is released fully, feeding, textbooks and other consumables are not in arrears, and headmasters are not forced to borrow to keep schools running.
When the National Health Insurance Fund and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, also known as Mahama Cares, are funded, health facilities can be reimbursed promptly, the NHIS remains viable, and patients are not asked to pay cash for services covered by law.
This is critical for achieving universal health coverage.
When the Road Maintenance Trust Fund is paid, the Ministry of Roads and Highways and its agencies can undertake routine maintenance, pothole patching and periodic upkeep, preventing our roads from deteriorating into death traps every rainy season.
When the DACF is released, district assemblies can function as true agents of local development — building markets, CHPS compounds, classroom blocks and improving sanitation without waiting for Accra to give them permission to spend their own constitutionally mandated share. And when the Mineral Development Fund and Mineral Income Investment
Fund receive their allocations, mining communities can finally see tangible benefits from the resources extracted from their soil, while the country invests mineral royalties for future generations.
This is why statutory funds were created in the first place — to ring-fence resources for priority sectors and insulate them from the political pressures of the annual budget. Capping and delaying them defeats that purpose.
We, therefore, welcome this development but urge that it becomes the norm, not the exception.
Ghana's fiscal challenges are far from over. Debt sustainability, revenue mobilisation and expenditure control remain pressing.
But how we treat statutory funds is a litmus test of our commitment to social development and decentralisation.
For too long, we celebrated levies being collected in the name of GETFund and NHIS while the funds themselves were starved.
If the GH¢24.8 billion announced by Dr Forson indeed represents full and timely release without capping and arrears, then we are witnessing a welcome return to fiscal honesty.
We encourage the Finance Ministry to stay the course.
Paying statutory funds on time is not a favour; it is compliance with the law.
And compliance with the law, when it directly supports schools, health care, roads and local development, is the foundation of public trust.
