Return the money – Auditor-General chases lecturers who bolted after being trained with public funds

The Auditor-General has in its 2019 audit issued directives to some tertiary institution to recover in excess of GH¢ 327,800 spent on training some lecturers who refused to return to the schools after their training.

The Auditor-General is on the heels of persons as he has identified their betrayal of trust as an irregularity committed by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Sunyani Technical University, Ho Technical University and the Cape Coast Technical University.

The report which mentioned the names of the beneficiaries and the amount spent on each person added that the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities will have to pay the debt if the beneficiaries fail to honour it.

In the case of GIMPA, the Auditor-General said, “the GH¢327,800.24 spent on Mr. Dominic Npoanlari Dagbanja should be recovered from him or his guarantors in the event that the Institute cannot recover it from him; also, members of staff who have completed their courses of study must report to the Institute to serve their bond period or pay the amount expended on them with interest,” the report said.

At the Takoradi Technical University, three lectures were found to have been paid monies they did not deserve.

“Two employees of the University, Kusi Ankrah Bonsu (Lecturer) and Foster Adade (Lecturer) who vacated post after their study leave with pay had expired were paid a total amount of GH₵ 63,555.60 from March 2019 to December 2019. We also noted that Mr. Anthony Boateng Addai, a former employee of the University who became separated by way of Study Leave without pay was paid one month salary of GH₵ 1,010.00 after his separation, bringing unearned salary payments to GH₵ 64,565.60,” the report indicated.

The Auditor-General also identified some irregularities in the financial report of the Sunyani Technical Universities.

“In reviewing personal files of the sponsored staffs, we noted that the University sponsored Dr Eric Nsiah Gyabaah, a Lecturer at the Accountancy Department to pursue a PhD programme in Business Administration at the Argosy University, Dallas for the period September 1, 2011, to 30 June 2017. We, however, noted that the officer only served the University for two out of the required six years after completing his studies and subsequently vacated post in July 2019.”

“In another development, Mr Adade Foster, a Lecturer with Department of Accountancy was granted study leave with pay from 18/2/2015- 18/2/2019 to pursue PhD in Business Administration (Accounting Option) at the Cyprus International University, North Cyprus for fours (4) years. He requested an extension of study leave on 9/September/2019 for one year till December 2020 after returning to work from September 2017 to April 2018. Management did not approve his extension request. He, therefore, vacated post on 18/2/2019.”

“Moreover, Mr Kusi Ankrah Bonsu, a Lecturer with Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering was granted study leave with pay from September/2016-July/2019 to pursue a three (3) years PhD in Information and Communication Engineering at the Nanjing University of Post and Telecommunication, China. He, however, did not return to serve his bond after the programme.”

“According to the bond agreement, the officers were to serve the University for a period of six and five years respectively after completing the courses or refund all expenses plus interest incurred on their studies. The officers are, therefore, indebted to the University to the tune of GH¢431,328.56 in respect of salaries paid to them throughout the programmes,” excerpts of the report read.