Minister of State in charge Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah

Comments asking Prof Yankah to stay off loan deal is mischievous - UG management

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Mar - 20 - 2018 , 20:44 3 minutes read

The management of the University of Ghana (UG) has disassociated itself from comments warning the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah to stay off the controversy involving the Africa Integras contract.

A statement dated March 19, 2018, signed and issued by the Registrar of the University, Mercy Haizel-Ashia, said ”The University of Ghana has neither issued any comments on the interview by the Minister of State responsible for Tertiary Education, nor authorised any agents to do so on its behalf.”

“Management therefore disassociates itself from these comments reported to have been made by top officials of the University in response to the Minister of State’s interview. Such untruths are borne out of mischief and the general public is advised to ignore them,” the statement said.

The UG under the immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ernest Aryeetey in 2015, entered into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with Africa Integras to invest US$64 million in the construction of a 1,000-bed hostel for undergraduate and post-graduate students on the Legon campus.

The said project was structured as a 25-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract for the University to pay Africa Integras an amount of $10 million annually for the next 25 years.

Reports have suggested that there are clauses in the Agreement that completely enslaves the University as an institution.

The Education Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh in a recent radio interview suggested the University risks being privatized if it fails to meet its obligations in the $64 million agreement.

But in a separate radio interview on Citi FM, the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof Kwesi Yankah said government is committed to ensuring that the University of Ghana is not privatized.

Professor Yankah said government would ensure the school remained a valuable state asset.

Read also: UG won’t collapse over supposed ‘bad contract’ – Prof. Yankah

Following that, there were concerns that Prof Yankah as a former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University should not attempt to protect anybody’s interest in the deal that the University feels it is not in its interest.

Some sources at the University have suggested that Prof. Yankah’s position on the Africa Integras matter was an indication that he was not on top of issues and it would therefore be better for him to shut up.

Legon managment statement

However, in the University’s statement of March 19, it said: “The attention of the University of Ghana Management has been drawn to an online publication of March 16, 2018 on Ghanaweb, apparently sourced from Graphic.com.gh, that attempts to attribute some comments to “authorities and top-level sources” at the University.

"This follows statements made by the Minister of State, Tertiary, Prof Kwesi Yankah, during a recent media interview with respect to the “Africa Integras” project at the University which was the subject of the discussion."

"The University of Ghana has neither issued any comments on the interview by the Minister of State responsible for Tertiary Education, nor authorised any agents to do so on its behalf.”

“Management therefore dissociates itself from these comments reported to have been made by top officials of the University in response to the Minister of State’s interview. Such untruths are borne out of mischief and the general public is advised to ignore them,” the statement said.

Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh

Follow @enochfrimpong

Below is a copy of the university's statement