Public University Bill back to Parliament; goes through second reading

Despite firm opposition from the Minority and sections of the public, Parliament, yesterday, took the controversial Public University Bill through a second reading.

It would be recalled that the bill, when introduced into the House some months ago, met stiff opposition from the Minority, civil society and the university community, who held the view that some clauses were not at par with provisions of the 1992 Constitution.

To the opposers, the law would take away the education freedom from the university councils, hence, create more problems than it seeks to resolve.

But the government explained that the bill, when passed, would harmonise the governance, administration and accountability structures of public universities.

However, this explanation from the government didn’t sit well with the opposers, causing the bill to be withdrawn from Parliament for further consultation with stakeholders in the education space after it was opposed.

But, yesterday in Parliament, the bill resurfaced and was taken through a second reading.

During the reading, the Minority still argued that the changes that necessitated the withdrawal had not been addressed; a position the government disagrees with.

The Ranking Member on the Subsidiary Legislation Committee and Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor, said the Bill in its current form was an affront to the 1992 Constitution.

According to him, Article 195(3) precludes presidents from appointing principal officers of universities, yet that is what the new bill seeks to do.

“Mr Speaker, if you go to Clause 16(2) of the Bill, it says that the president would have to appoint the chancellor of the university, and I believe strongly that if this provision is allowed to stay, it will be repugnant to Article 195(3) of the 1992 Constitution,” he said.

Mr Ahiafor said there was inconsistency in the proposed law, because the universities were classified as corporate institutions, yet “when you go to clause 4 to 6, it stipulates that the university cannot enter into a contract except with the approval of the minister responsible for education.”

This, he said, defeats the freedom of the universities to take a decision on behalf of the institution.

But Education Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, MP, Manhyia South, said the Bill, if passed, would address the gaps in the administration of public universities in the country.

On the appointment of Chancellors, the Education Minister said they had never been appointees of the universities.

“The Chancellor of the university is not an appointee of the university. Mr Speaker, the law defines the Chancellor as the Curricular Head. He gets no remuneration, neither is he not on payroll.

“The Chancellor of every university since independence has not been appointed by the Council of the University,” he said, dismissing claim by the Minority that allowing the president to appoint the Chancellor would be a violation of the Constitution.

On the corporate status of the universities, Dr Prempeh said as absolute shareholder of the universities, it was important the government had a say in their decisions, especially external ones, so as to properly guarantee for the universities.

Without mentioning a name, Dr Opoku Prempeh, said a similar situation was on the hand of the government where a Ghanaian university had entered three transactions that are costing the country more than GH¢500million; a situation, he said, must be avoided in future.

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