According to the Auditor-report General for 2021, some academic programs at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have not been accredited.
“Out of the 360 programs administered by the University, only 61 have been accredited,” the report’s findings state. “190 have been referred to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for accreditation and reaccreditation, and 109 have not yet been forwarded to NAB for accreditation.”
Therefore, in order to prevent NAB consequences, the Auditor-General has “advised Management to halt conducting programs that are not accredited or have had their accredited certifications expire, unless they are accredited or reissued.”
Still, on KNUST, the Auditor-General discovered that four officers who were given sabbatical leave by the university accepted various positions in other government organizations where they are receiving full monthly salaries (basic salary and other allowances) in addition to the basic and Market Premium that the university is paying (KNUST).
The report claims that as a result, the government has had to pay GH 488,868.69 in basic salary and market premium twice.
The report stated, “We suggested to Management to ensure that the officers refund to the consolidated fund the wages provided by the University for the sabbatical leave period.
The following are specifics of further conclusions and suggestions the Auditor-General made regarding KNUST:
Development Office
“We identified a number of defects during our physical inspection of the Proposed Construction of Educational Resort Facilities for the Institute of Distance Learning (IDL) at Moree. We recommended that the Director of Works and the project supervisors fix the identified flaws at their own expense.”
Maintenance Unit
“Our audit revealed that, of the GH291,771.61 released by the University for maintenance activities, transactions totaling GH263,596.42 lacked relevant supporting documentation such as Vice Chancellor’s approval and letters of contract engagements, signed sheets, and proper VAT invoices to authenticate the payments.”
We recommended that the technical team at the Maintenance Department (Architect, Site Manager, Administrator, and others) refund the amount of GH263,596.42 to the University in the absence of the required supporting documents to prove the legitimacy of the expenditures.”
Also read: 2021 Audit Report carried out in accordance with INTOSAI
Procurement Department
“We observed that Messrs Red Mango Limited, which won a contract to supply Automatic Turnstile Gate and accessories to the University, presented an Invalid Tax Clearance Certificate” (TCC).
When evaluating tenders, we recommended that the Tender Evaluation Panel pay close attention to Section 22 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), as amended by Section 7 of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914).”
Colleges and Departmental issues – University Printing Press
“We discovered from our review of accounts receivables in the Printing Press’s Financial Statements that a total debt of GH294,123.00 owed by 14 customers has remained uncollected since 2016.”
We advised Management to implement a debt collection strategy to ensure early debt recovery and to reduce future default rates.”
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