Follow up investigations by The Chronicle have further revealed that the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Kaku Sagary Nokoe and the then Chairman of the UDS Council, Mr. Daniel Gyimah who is also the brother of National Democratic Congress (NDC) strongwoman, Ms. Cecelia Johnson, may have acted in concert to purchase the controversial GETfund Hostel, and threw a veil over the plot by failing to follow the proper University procedure in the acquisition and disposal of University assets.
The Chronicle established that the decision to procure the facility was not refereed to the University of Development Studies (UDS) Finance Committee for consideration and recommendation to the University Council for approval. Even though it was public knowledge that the ultra-modern three star GETfund Hostel was going to be handed over to the UDS, as a students' hostel after the CAN 2008 tournament, the issue has now taken a new twist.
However, The Chronicle's earlier investigations uncovered that the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof Nokoe, in a letter to the former GETfund Administrator, dated March 14th 2008, with reference number VCL.27/Vol.2/08 - proposed to purchase the facility for the University, a decision which has been widely criticized by majority of the public and some students of the University of Development Studies (UDS).
The facility was purchased at a total sum of Six Million, One Hundred and Ninety-Eight Thousand, Nine-Hundred and fifty-two Ghana Cedis, Thirty-six pesewas (GH¢6,198,952.36), representing over ¢61.9 billion old cedis, and it is now being managed by the owner of the Crystal Rose Hotel in Kumasi.
Surprisingly, several calls have been received by this reporter from some unknown people, obviously sympathizers of the UDS, claiming to be unaware that the facility had been sold to the University by the GETfund.
On the other hand, some five students of the University (names withheld), who stormed the Northern Regional Office of The Chronicle to express their disappointment at the sale and purchase of the Hostel, asserted that the immediate past UDS Students Representative Council (SRC) - Central President, Naab A. Alphonse was trying to lead a crusade to stop the Acting VC from purchasing the facility.
As a result, he was suspended from his position by the Acting VC, Prof. Sagary Nokoe which suspension led to several unrests and series of demonstrations by the students of the Wa Campus of the University.
When contacted by The Chronicle, the immediate past SRC President of the UDS, Naab A. Alphonse confirmed that his tribulations suffered at the hands of the Acting VC was "because I tried as a student leader to find out from him why he was interested in buying the Hostel when it is already our property. I did not end it there but I sent the issue to a Council meeting where the VC and the Council Chairman, Mr. Daniel Gyimah shouted me down for being too curious. In the meeting I questioned them on what to say should any media station/journalist ask me about the facility, but the Council Chairman told me to refer whoever would ask me anything about it to him or the VC".
According to the former SRC President, he was thereafter seen as the most notorious, intrusive and problematic student in the school. He insisted that the purchasing of the Hostel was not brought to the Council, which he was a member, for any discussion but it was acquired solely by the Acting VC and the Chairman.
The Chronicle has learnt that the Acting VC took Two hundred and forty thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢240,000.00) from the students accounts, specifically from the students National Health Insurance dues to support the National Investment Bank (NIB) loan of One Million Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,000,000.00) to defray the 20% of the Six Million, One Hundred and Ninety-Eight Thousand, Nine-Hundred and fifty-two Ghana Cedis, Thirty-six pesewas (GH¢6,198,952.36) required for the purchasing of the facility. Each student is supposed to pay forty Ghana cedis (GH¢49.00).
Meanwhile, when the then Registrar of the UDS, Mr. Joseph Sam Amoah Akumbuno was contacted, he said “I have not organised any meeting on my own or at the instance of the Acting VC, or attended any meeting, or covered any meeting leading to the administering or sale/ purchase of the hostel in question. In short, the Registrar's office, under my direction, was isolated in the build up to the purchase and administering of the hostel.
I therefore know little about how the hostel operates in the UDS. Under the circumstances, I unconditionally recommend a thorough probe into the affairs of the hostel and similar projects of the UDS under the Gyimah and Nokoe administration. This will better inform and educate the Ghanaian public about UDS projects”.
All the transactions or correspondence were done in March 2008, and I left office on 2nd May 2008, but the issue was not brought to the Council". Several attempts by The Chronicle to get explanations from the Acting Vice Chancellor of the UDS, Prof Kaku Sagary Nokoe as to whether the University Council approved of the transaction on the purchase and management of the Hostel proved unsuccessful, as his Senior Assistant Registrar in the Registrar's Department said he had travelled to Nigeria.
On the other hand, some attempts to establish how the owner of Crystal Rose Hotel from Kumasi was mandated by the GETfund and the UDS to manage the facility and where the proceeds accrued since the CAN 2008 tournament till date are being channelled, also proved futile as the workers at the Hotel failed to cooperate with the paper.
Meanwhile, some political analysts believe that the purchase of the 640 unit GETfund Hostel, a three star hotel, was unnecessary, since the same amount could have been used to provide accommodation facility for 12,000 students.
The population of the four campuses of the UDS is now around 10,000 and they struggle to rent expensive accommodation outside campus. However, this reporter is at a loss as to whether it is right for the GETfund to provide tertiary institutions with projects and turn round to sell such projects to the beneficiary institutions.
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