UG Judgment Debt: BNI, IGP, EOCO must investigate Prof Ayeetey - Group

A group calling itself the Institute Responsible for Tracking Accountable Governance IRETAG is asking the Inspector General of Police, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) among others to investigate former University of Ghana Vice Chancellor Prof Ernest Aryeetey for causing Financial loss to the state if it is established he didn’t consult during the Africa Integras deal.

The University of Ghana has been slapped with a $165m judgment debt over a project Prof Aryeetey initiated.

Read the full statement below:

Subject: $64M Africa INTEGRAS-UG deal – A bane or a blessing?

We the undersigned, for and on behalf of the Institute Responsible For Tracking Accountable Governance-IRETAG, do hereby call on the high office of the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, The Bureau of National Investigations- BNI, The Inspector General Of Police-IGP, Ghana Police Service and The Economic and Organised Crime Office-EOCO to urgently actuate the legal processes of investigations into the contract between the University Of Ghana and Africa Integras, as an entity made to be known as construction company based in London.

The University of Ghana under the auspices of the then Vice-Chancellor Prof. Ernest Aryeetey signed a $64million deal for the construction of an expanded facility for the College of Humanities, a complex for the new College of Education, a new building complex for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences and a complex to house the Institute of Technology and Applied Sciences and a building for the College of Health Sciences to aid the University in relocating the Medical school to the University of Ghana main campus from its present location in Korle Bu Teaching hospital.

Foregoing, the contract was expected to have been fully executed by end of 2017 and operationalized by Africa Integras for a stated duration of 25 years with annual instalment settlements of $10 million under a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) Private Public Partnership (PPP) agreement. This translates that the University of Ghana by the end of the 25yrs would have paid $250million to Africa Integras thus $186 million in excess of the actual cost of the project.

It became interesting to note that after the expiration of the tenure of the Prof. Aryeetey in 2016 which subsequently led to the induction of Prof. Ebenezer Oduro as the new Vice Chancellor for University of Ghana has raised serious concerns over the fraudulently perceived terms and conditions under which the BOT agreement with Africa Integras was hurriedly signed.

Relevant key stakeholders within the University community called for the abrogation of the contract as it seeks to somewhat not project in the best interest of the university and likely to risk the seizure of the assets of the University of Ghana in the event of not meeting the resettlement terms and conditions.

More recently, on the 2nd August 2018, a ruling was passed in favour of Africa Integras demanding of the University of Ghana to cough $160million as cost of terminating the contract for which not even 50percent (50%) progress has been made on the project. We, the Institute Responsible for Tracking Accountable Governance-IRETAG is asking these legitimate questions which begs for many answers;

1. Was the University Council and Senior management consulted in the signing of the agreement? If yes, Prof. Aryeetey and the then council must be invited by EOCO for causing financial loss to the sate.

2. Is the University having the constitutional mandate to sign contracts for such projects without parliamentary approval of the loan facility?