The Ministry of Finance yesterday said that it is not exploring avenues for administering the teachers housing fund.
In a statement, the Ministry of Finance contradicted information which had been supplied by the Ministry’s own Finance Secretary Dr Hector Butts to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Monday.
Adverting to the article in Tuesday’s edition of Stabroek News headlined ‘Parliament committee asks about teachers housing fund’, the ministry said it noted that the article says the following, “The Ministry of Finance is exploring the placement of the $200 million Housing Revolving Fund, established in 2011 to allow teachers to access low rate home loans, under the management of the Student Loan Agency, Finance Secretary (FS) Hector Butts stated yesterday (Monday).”
The Ministry of Finance said it wished to make clear “that it is not exploring avenues including the Student Loan Agency for the administering of the Fund; nor is it in any way attempting to assume responsibility for the Fund. The Fund remains under the remit of the Ministry of Education and it is for that Ministry and the Guyana Teachers Union to decide on the operationalising of the Fund”.
Butts had told the PAC on Monday that while an account for the teachers’ fund exists, the ministry is currently looking at the logistics – that is, finding an agency to manage the fund, after which he stated that the Student Loan Agency, which falls under the Ministry of Finance, is being considered.
