In his bid to support the education and human development of his constituents, Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Andrew Egyapa Mercer has since 2017 provided financial support out of his allocation of the Common Fund to brilliant but needed students pursuing studies at the senior and tertiary levels.
In 2017, a cumulative amount of GH¢51,000 was disbursed to beneficiaries. This year round, a total of GH¢32,753 would be disbursed to some beneficiaries.
Hon. Andrew E. Mercer tells Skyy News’ that he’s very particular with building an educated and literate society and as such would continuously dedicate a section of his common fund to support education.
“The expectation is that they would also make meaningful contribution to the community and I think it’s a worthy enterprise spending some of the monies allocated for the MPs in that area”, he justified.
He noted that a committee has been instituted to review applications and make recommendations to that effect.
“I believe that some request will come next year, of course others also come as the year progresses. We did it on an ad hoc basis last year but this year I set up a committee that reviewed the requests that came and made recommendations based on some assessments, and we’ve done one bulk request to STMA which is the custodian institution for those funds, to write cheques for beneficiaries …but in the schools’ name because these are public funds that we would not want people just applying to divert. So we would make sure the funds actually go to the school”, Hon. Mercer intimated.
He advised beneficiaries to be diligent in their academics. He noted such investments in their life justifiably, would yield positive results and impact not only for themselves but the communities they reside.
“I expect they would employ themselves diligently to their studies. There were alternatives these funds could be deployed to, so if you had the benefit of getting some support, I guess our only recourse is to apply ourselves diligently to the school. So that the investment that the community has made…no matter how small, can be justified in the future”, he emphasized.
Hon. Mercer emphasized that some reservations are always and would be made to respond to other developmental needs of the people. He mentioned that the Sekondi Market gate has been fixed, furniture and other logistics have been supplied to the Sekondi Health Post, and other social interventions have been made possible through his common fund allocation.
Source: Skyy Power
