Director of Law School To Refund ?4 billion, But....

... Govt sits on Akamba Committee report
... director position to be advertised
There is great anxiety among lecturers and students of the Ghana School of Law (GSL) over the delay by the General Legal Council (GLC) to make the findings or reports of the Akamba Committee public or official.

The five-member committee was established to investigate numerous allegations against the director of the school, Kwaku Ansa Asare, bordering on conflict of interest and abuse of office among other charges.

According to a Ghanaian Chronicle report, the GLC has submitted its final report nearly three weeks ago, Thursday January 19 2006.

Available evidence clearly indicates that, Kwaku Ansa Asare was never appointed the substantive director of the Ghana School of Law and could best be described as acting director.

The Committee has recommend that the position be advertised as was directed by the GLC in July 2003.

On the allegations of conflict of interest, the committee found out that there had been serious acts of conflicts of interest that were found in the numerous purchases of books and legal materials, mainly from his private bookshop, during his tenure of office.

The report therefore recommended that Kwaku Ansa Asare be asked to refund ?4 billion to the state and also for a thorough forensic audit to be conducted to find out the total revenue and expenditure of the school since 2002, to ascertain how much financial loss the state had incurred.

The Committee found out that during his tenure of office, Kwaku Ansa Asare was occupying two official residences at Labone and a rented house at Taifa, for which millions of cedis were paid.

It recommended that since a public officer, cannot occupy two official residences, Kwaku Ansa Asare be made to refund the amount used in renting the second house to the state.

The committee also recommended that an overhaul of the school administration be made, with the Registrar and Deputy registrar positions being occupied by lawyers preferably.

It said in the case of a current registrar, Mrs Linda Doku, preference was made to the effect that the qualified candidate should hold a Post Graduate qualification in mass communication and was therefore tailor- measured by Kwaku Ansa Asare to suit her, rendering her appointment as the substantive registrar a sham.

According to the committee, even though under the public services rules, acting positions are not made with appointment letters in the case of the law school registrar, she received an appointment letter to the acting position, with all the benefits attacted to the substantive position of a Registrar.