Also speaking on Point Blank, the\u00a0Local President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Henry Agbanu, disagreed with the Minister’s position, explaining that once the school was not receiving financial support from government, it had no option than resort to loan agreements from external sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that because of the infrastructure challenges facing the University, and the University has been struggling to find ways to solve problem. Remember that the University is a public institution which should be funded by government but over the years government funding to the universities have dwindled.”<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, all that government does is to pay emoluments of workers. No capital investment; no administrative cost, nothing; and so universities are left to struggle and cope with the problems they have. At a point at the University of Ghana, there were about six, seven students in a room and it was an eyesore when you came to the campus and you went to the students’ room, you will never want your child to be educated in such an environment so the University in its wisdom thought it will be necessary to build hostels for students to occupy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Agbanu further indicated that the school is holding talks with key stakeholders to find viable means of meeting requirements for the agreement. He therefore slammed the Education Minister, saying it was inappropriate for him to take up a matter that is being discussed behind closed-doors to the media.<\/p>\n
In his view, the Minister appears to be interested in scoring political points with a rather sensitive issue.<\/p>\n Prof. Aryeetey denies fraud claims in $64m UG deal<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2017, this same agreement came up for discussion after the former Vice Chancellor of UG, Prof Aryeetey, was accused of failing to do due diligence when the deal was signed under his tenure.<\/p>\n He however rubbished these claims<\/a><\/strong>, explaining that UG had gone through all the right procedures before signing the agreement with the company.<\/p>\n Professor Aryeetey insisted the processes leading up to the signing of the agreement with Integras were transparent, with all relevant stakeholders being kept informed of all developments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no scandal at all in relation to the $64.4 million contract. Africa Integras signed an agreement that they were supposed to spend that money. As far as I know, by the time the project stopped, they had spent about $28 million. How does a phony company come and spend $28 million? You can see the buildings coming up and yet it has been written that I have signed an agreement with a phony company. We haven\u2019t spent any money ourselves, it\u2019s the \u2018phony\u2019 company that\u2019s spending the money; how does a phony company put up buildings?,\u201d Professor Aryeetey asked.<\/p>\n He also dismissed assertions that that he had received financial inducements to allow the project to proceed.<\/p>\n \u201cI can assure the public that nothing untoward took place. The processes that were followed were very transparent. It\u2019s being suggested that there was something corrupt, but there\u2019s no such thing. I was never offered any money by any of the persons we dealt with. I have never asked for anything nor have I taken money from anybody in relation to this or any other project. Any suggestions of wrongdoing will be completely misplaced.\u201d<\/p>\n The project was structured as a 25-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana![\"\"](\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Prof-Ernest-Aryeetey..jpg\")
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