Parliament on Thursday evening passed the COVID-19 National Trust Fund Bill, 2020.
The House earlier determined to pass the Bill under a certificate of urgency after it was laid in the house by Attorney General.
The trust will receive donations for disbursement and also make provisions for how the trust should be managed.
The Bill, when assented by the President into law, will give legal backing to the establishment of the COVID-19 National Trust Fund to complement the efforts of government in the fight against the disease after it was set up by the government last week.
The trust, which will be chaired by former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, is to receive public contributions to help improve the lives of the vulnerable who will be worst-hit by the pandemic.
The other members of the Board of trustees of the Fund are Archbishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Jude Kofi Bucknor, Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie, Elsie Addo-Awadzie, Dr. Ernest Ofori-Sarpong, and Dr Tanko Collins Asare will act as Secretary to the Board.
The President, while inaugurating the Board at a brief ceremony at Jubilee House two days after the Fund’s establishment noted that since the outbreak of the virus in Ghana, especially during the course of last week, organisations and individuals have made donations, with others wanting to find out how they can also contribute to the cause.
“I felt that the best way was to establish a public trust so that the monies that come do not get intermingled with Government money and all of those problems. A public trust that is to be managed by an independent body of trustees, so that people will see that these monies are being properly accounted for and properly deployed,” he said.
Donations to the Fund
President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia started by donated three months of thier salaries to the trust.
All Ministers of State and other top appointees at the presidency also voluntarily decided to donate 50 percent of their salary.
Parliament has also contributed GHS 200,000 with the Speaker of the House, Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye also donating half of his three months’ salary to the fund.
