Your Excellency,

Once again, congratulations on your re-election!

On 4th September, 2020, during the electioneering campaign, you admitted
on Oman FM that the Public University Bill (PUB) had issues, specifically
provisions surrounding the Governing Council and promised to withdraw
and review. Unfortunately, after securing your mandate, your Minister of
Education has rather tabled a new Bill which still contains the very
contentious issues you promised to review.

Sadly, the new Bill went through 2nd reading in Parliament yesterday without the support of the minority.

The following 5 points must convince you that the new PUB is not different
from the previous one, and still remains an instrument to exact political
control and executive dominance with a high potential to make partisan,
the governance of Public Universities.

1. The Bill still increases government representation on the University
   Councils (the highest decision-making body), from 6 out of 21 (e.g.
   for UG) to 9 out of 16. This is from 29% to about 60% (Clause 8).
2. The quorum for a meeting of the Councils is 8, meaning that only government appointees may meet as a Council and determine the governance of the University. It also means that the Government can procure any decision of the Council by whipping its direct and indirect appointees in line. As if this is not enough, where the Chair of the Council is absent at a meeting, only a government appointee may Chair the meeting; no other member of Council may chair the meeting (Clause 12).
3. The new Bill still clothes the President with the power to dissolve the University Council and revoke the membership of even those he did not appoint. Contrary to this provision in clause 8(5) of the Bill, Article 297 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana does not grant any power to any person to dissolve a University Council and to appoint an interim council.
4. The new Bill still prevents universities from entering into any contract without prior approval by the Education Minister. This is suppressive of the status of Universities as Corporate Entities. Even SHS does not require ministerial approval to contract (Clause 46).
5. Clause 16(1) of the new Bill says that the Chancellor shall be appointed by the President. This is contrary to Article 195(3) of the Constitution, which provides that officers of the University, shall be appointed by the Council of the University, and not the President. To be clear, the Chancellor is one of the Principal Officers of the University.

The above indicates quite clearly that all the issues raised by stakeholders
including UTAG and the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences have not been
resolved, necessitating the immediate withdrawal and commencement of
real, genuine consultations that are meant to reshape the Bill rather than
merely satisfy a procedural requirement. The impression that the passage
of the Bill is an emergency should be discouraged, as there isn’t any
emergency in our Public Universities that warrants the desperation that has
occasioned this particular legislation.

Mr. President, this is the time to redeem your campaign promise by
withdrawing the PUB, for real, genuine consultations leading to reshaping
the Bill into a workable and acceptable one to commence.

Thank you.

Kofi Asare
Executive Director.