Education Minister "lying" to paint me black – Prof Aryeetey

Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, says he did no wrong in the negotiation of the $64 million agreement the university entered  into with a foreign company for the construction of some structures for the school.

According to him, the accusations made by the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh over the deal is an attempt to tarnish his image.

The Minister of Education on Monday stated in an interview on Accra-based Peace FM that the university risk being privatized if it fails to meet its obligations of the $64 million agreement it entered into with a private company, Africa Integras.

Read also: US$64 million UG infrastructure project stalls

According to him, the university is expected to pay a total amount of 10 million dollars to Africa Integras every year for a period of 25 years; adding however that the school had in recent times defaulted in the payment – a situation he believes could lead to the school’s assets being seized.

But Prof. Aryeetey in a statement has said the Minister’s claims are “further from the truth”, adding that the University of Ghana under his leadership did not borrow such an amount.

Below is the full statement

The Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana and the Minister of Education of Ghana are trying very hard to make the world believe that I led the University to borrow $64.4 million to build a students hostel. Nothing could be further from the truth. The University of Ghana never borrowed any such money!!!

What they have both failed to understand is that the University entered into a concession agreement with Africa Integras, an American company, to build 5 structures at Legon at a total cost of $64.4 million. Africa Integras borrowed a part of that money from the US government agency, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). The rest of the funds came from the private company WP Carey as its equity in the deal. The project was to be undertaken on a “Build, Operate and Transfer” basis. What this meant was that Africa Integras would own the buildings and rent out space in them to Legon. The University was not going to rent simple empty space. The space was going to be fully furnished and equipped for teaching and research purposes. It included modern state of the art and well equipped laboratories for the science units of the university. And all of this was going to be maintained and managed by Africa Integras for 25 years at agreed high standards. This is what the VC and the Minister have deliberately refused to tell the world for reasons best known to them.

The University undertook extensive feasibility analysis of the project through its Business School and concluded that using the BOT approach was far better than borrowing directly. The agreement provided for various ways in which the University could finance its annual rent payments. Without exploring these financing options, the new University management had concluded that it cannot afford the project. In order to justify the VC’s lack of interest in the project, he has told one lie after the other. Unfortunately people who should be more discerning, have believed him without subjecting the agreement and the processes leading to it, to any proper scrutiny.

l am convinced that the agreement was in the best interest of the University in order to solve its many space and modern technology problems. This is especially so since it provided for discussion and renegotiation at a future date at the request of either party.

The Minister also made the point that the Government of Ghana was kept in the dark about the project. This is clearly false and we can easily prove that.

I can assure the whole world that nothing illegal, immoral or irregular occurred in the negotiation of this deal. I was never offered any incentive whatsoever by the parties we negotiated with. And I never asked for anything!

I believe that the deliberate effort to tarnish my image is driven by other issues and differences that have nothing to do with this project. Stopping the project, as UG has done, is not only going to deprive Ghanaian students of modern learning facilities, but going to add several millions of dollars to the cost unnecessarily. It is the hope of the Minister of Education and the University Management that when that happens, they can conveniently blame Ernest Aryeetey for it.

I trust fully in the Good Lord to show Ghanaians the truth. I also hope that other persons who know the truth will find the courage to speak out publicly.

Ernest Aryeetey