Tertiary fees brouhaha: You lack locus to speak for UG – MoE tells Prof. Gyampo

January 6, 2023

The Ministry of Education says it will not respond to Prof. Ransford Gyampo over his pronouncement that the Ministry does not have the power to order universities to reduce their fees, adding he lacks the locus to speak on behalf of the University of Ghana.

Professor Ransford Gyampo insists the only minister clothed with such powers is the Finance Minister, according to Act 1080 which governs public universities.

“It is important for us to point out the fact that in Act 1080, the only minister that is given the authority over fees is the Minister of Finance and not the Education Minister,” he said in an interview with Citi FM.

On Thursday, January 5, the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum directed Management of the University of Ghana (UG) to comply with the 15 percent increment in tertiary fees as directed by the Ghana Tertiary Education Council (GTEC).

His order followed an engagement with all public universities on the tertiary fees brouhaha.

But, some students of the University of Ghana have accused the Management of the school of charging more than the approved fees for the next academic year.

However, Prof. Gyampo maintains the Minister does not have the authority to order the management of the University.

Speaking to Starr News, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, says Prof. Gyampo who delights in engaging in media gimmicks is not clothed with the authority to speak on behalf of the University of Ghana.

“You can read it from his history, he’s my friend but this is not the first time he’s done that. At some point even though he was not part of the negotiating team members representing UTAG, we were forced to invite him because a lot of times you realize that there’s some lack of understanding of the issues at stake. He just takes delight in going on social media and engaging in media gimmicks. So I treat it as one such.”

Kwasi Kwarteng added: “We are not going to respond to him because we feel that in terms of locus which is the thrust of his argument, he himself does not have the locus to speak for the university. For us as the Ministry of Education, the official position we have from the university’s management through their Vice Chancellor is that they are going to confer with their council. That should end the conversation.”