It came to the notice of the Auditor-General that the Bolgatanga Technical University paid one Mr. Akay over Ghc300,000 over the course of 6 years.
This was contained in the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana – Technical Universities for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Portions of the report read, “We noted that Management granted study leave with pay to Mr. Akay to pursue a 2-year Master of Business Administration (Supply Chain Management Option) at GIMPA, from September 2013 to June 2015. The officer presented an MSc. Certificate in Management Information System after completing the course. He was subsequently upgraded from Library Assistant to Assistant Librarian.”
“However, investigation conducted by GTEC on officers’ academic certificates during the conversion from Polytechnic to Technical University revealed that the certificate presented by Mr. Akay was fake. He could not have graduated because of his outstanding project work. This resulted in his indebtedness in the sum of GH¢376,244.22, being gross salary paid to him from October 2015 (effective date of the certificate) to September 2021 by the University. Subsequently, Mr. Akay was summarily dismissed on 22 September 2021 in accordance with article 54 of the University Statutes. Details of the salaries paid for the period is provided in Table.”
The Report continued to read, “4.3.1 of the Human Resource Management Policy and Manual for Public Service of Ghana provides that background investigations and checks should be conducted to confirm information and documents submitted by job applicants.”
“Management’s inaction in conducting checks on staff academic certificates from the appropriate institutions accounted for the anomaly. The omission led to an upgrade of an officer to an underserving grade and could also cause a loss to the State if not retrieved.”
The Auditor-General through the report “recommended that the amount of GH¢376,244.22 should be retrieved from Mr. Akay and same paid to the Consolidated Fund, failing which Management should take legal action against him to retrieve same. We also advised Management to always conduct the needed checks on academic certificates and other information provided by new employees and staff on study leave to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in teaching and learning.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
