KNUST–TEWU-GH challenges university’s finance officer nominations

The KNUST branch of the Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH) is protesting the report of a search committee that recommended Abdulai Suglo as a new Finance Officer for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

The union is calling for the disqualification of the candidate on the two grounds of failure to meet the minimum requirement for the office and allegations of financial malfeasance against the candidate.

The search has become necessary as the University is seeking a replacement for the position which turns vacant in November.

Qualifications

The union insists the committee erred as the recommended candidate, does not in their estimation, meet the minimum Qualification to have gone through an interview.

Addressing a news conference on the campus of the university, the local TEWU-GH chairman Charles Arthur outlined that the candidate had to be either a Deputy Finance Officer in a university or hold an equivalent position in an analogous institution or fifteen years’ service in industry.

He argued that among the two candidates shortlisted, a senior to Mr. Suglo who has served as Deputy Finance Officer appeared to have ticked the boxes.

“Dr Charles Nsia is a deputy finance officer at KNUST and has served in that position for three years. Mr. Abdullai Suglo is a Senior Accountant at KNUST, on Sabbatical Leave, to SD Dombo University, as a Director of Finance. Mr. Abdulai Suglo will, upon the expiry of the Sabbatical Leave, resume duty at KNUST as Senior Accountant. Therefore, he did not qualify to be interviewed and, that, the Search Committee was in grave error for not disqualifying Mr. Abdulai Suglo,” he clarified.

Financial Malfeasance

TEWU-GH is further raising concern the nominee has not yet been cleared of allegations of drawing double salaries from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the S.D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies.

Charles Arthur explained that the recommended candidate allegedly received both salaries from the consolidated fund after taking up an appointment at the S.D. Dombo University while he was still on Sabbatical leave from KNUST.

“Mr. Abdulai Suglo was found to have drawn double salary respectively from KNUST and S.D. Dombo University. The University Council therefore deferred the appointment and constituted a committee to investigate the issue of the double salary of Mr. Abdulai Suglo,” he stated.

Reliefs

The local KNUST TEWU-GH made summary demands for the University to haul Mr. Suglo before the Senior Members Disciplinary Committee for “brazenly, breaching the Contract for Sabbatical Leave”,

The Union further asked the University to take steps to demand a refund of all double salaries they alleged were unduly paid Mr. Suglo.

“Again we hereby, call on the Vice-Chancellor to demand from Mr. Abdulai Suglo the refund, forthwith, of the salary he has received whilst on Sabbatical Leave. This will, definitely, obviate the need for KNUST to be hauled before the Public Accounts Committee, to answer queries, in respect of the salary received by Mr. Abdulai Suglo, on Sabbatical Leave,” he noted.

Reputational Damage

Mr. Charles Arthur referred the university’s Council to the values of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, which prioritizes integrity of service.

“Moreover, the Institute of Chartered Accountant, Ghana (ICAG) of which Mr. Abdulai Suglo is a member, has its motto as: INTEGRITY; and, vehemently, frowns on untoward conduct and lack of integrity,” he emphasized.

He warned that the university would be ridiculed in the eyes of her competitors if she appointed a candidate with a questioned record to handle a critical office as that of the Finance Officer.

Abdulai Suglo

Mr. Abdulai Suglo, a foundation financial director for the S.D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) where he also serves as facilitator and examiner having trained and mentored countless accountants in reputable institutions across the world.

He is a Senior in the accounting and financial management practice both in the private and public sectors in Ghana with over 22 years of experience in academia and industry.

Prior to his appointment as Interim Director of Finance where he acquitted himself leading the restructuring of the University; Mr. Suglo worked in KNUST as a College Accountant for the College of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Accountant for the Institute of Distance Learning and also Head of Students’ Section. Mr. Suglo played very pivotal role by leading a team to convert the Financial Management system of KNUST from manual to electronic.

In industry, he is credited for his classic work in leading the finance team to restructure the financial management system of Ayum Forest Products Ltd (AFPL) (formerly Mim Timbers) in 2001 after the divestiture of the company.

Before his appointment at KNUST, Mr. Suglo worked as Finance Manager for Ghana Aluminium Products (Ghana), Tema, as an Area Accountant for Kinapharma Ltd, and Accountant for Naja David Group.

Mr. Suglo has vast grant management experience having managed several donor-funded projects for the European Union, DANIDA, Gates & Mirinda foundations, Welcome Trust, African Development Bank, and the World Bank.

Mr. Suglo is a Senior Partner of AMS and Associates, a firm of Chartered Accountants and Management Consultants.

His clients credit him for his firm stance in rejecting financial appreciation of all kinds even after offering a service to perfection. He is noted for redirecting clients to channel his gratuities into funds for supporting the education of less privileged communities in the Northern Regions of Ghana which bears the highest incidence of poverty.