Legon SRC demands probe of varsity

The Students Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Ghana, Legon, has called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, set up an independent board of enquiry to investigate alleged financial malfeasance at Ghana's premier university.

This call by the SRC yesterday comes in the wake of an ongoing cold war between the students and the Council of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) over the newly proposed academic and residential fees for 2001/2002 academic year.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the students' recent call on the university authorities to furnish the SRC with its audited accounts, following the CVCP proposed revised academic and residential fees, the SRC noted that the increment of the Academic Facilities User Fees (AFUF) from ?224,000 to ?416,000 for the humanities is unjustifiable.

The Science increment from ?364,000 to ?598,000, as well as Medicine from ?554,000 to ?850,000, is unbearable for our parents, the students noted.

According to them, they can only pay the last year fees for the 2001/2002 academic year.

This, the students claimed, is due to the fact that the audited accounts presented to them by the university authorities indicate that all the departments of the university have surplus balance carried forward, even though some unapproved expenditures were made.

But the CVCP disagreed, saying that the current levels of AFUF were set in 1998 and that the amount chargeable to students is derived from the shortfall in funding of goods and services required by the teaching departments.

The CVCP also pointed out that the department's shortfall exacerbated by the fact that government funding in 2001 financial year is at 50% of the university budget.

The students refused to accept this argument in the sense that a prudent use of the AFUF would minimize the expenditure of all the departments and thus could reduce the cost burden on students.

They suggested that the AFUF be used solely on items that have direct bearing on teaching and nothing else.

The SRC also refused to accept as accurate the audited accounts, contending that it is too absorbent and cannot be relied upon, due to the fact that they leave many things unsaid unless one resorted to the use of imaginary figures.

"They are almost fictitious," added Master Ampoma-Boateng Benjamin, the SRC President.

He pointed out that another area the SRC is advocating for government's probe is the Residential Facilities User Fee (RFUF), which has been raised from ?125,000 more to water and electricity.

The RFUF accounts, the students explained, are conflicting. The audited accounts, according to them reveals that 25% of each hall's money is permanently kept at the Finance Office and there are conflicting accounts on what they are used for.

They described as bogus the whole RFUF accounts, saying it is a sham and only shows colossal figures with their corresponding English words, in that there are conflicting items, which seems to appear on a trial and error basis.

The students called for the bringing of the external degrees students to campus when in level 300. They also called for the refunding of the medical examinations fees.