The law on public universities will not solve any problem – Kofi Bentil and Apaak say to the government

General News of Saturday, April 13, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-13

The public universities bill was again challenged, this time by the Vice President of IMANI Africa and the Member of Parliament for Builsa South, who said that the bill was unnecessary because it did not solve any problem .

Speaking on Newsfile, an badysis program of Joy News on Saturday, the duo felt that the bill was only one way for the government to control the events unfolding. on university campuses through the back door, an badertion refuted by the government.

For its part, the government stated: "The purpose of the Public Universities Bill is to define the procedure for the establishment of public universities, the management principles of public universities, the legal status of public universities, the the procedure for financing public universities and their administration and supervision. public university activities and related issues. "

But Builsa South MP Clement Apaak wants the bill "to be set aside". "It's useless, useless and in decline," he added.

In his view, the current system of administration of Ghana's public universities was not a problem or problem for which a bill is needed to remedy the situation.

Mr. Apaak argued that the bill, when it will be allowed to become law, will instead create serious problems.

He stressed the need to reserve majority seats in the University Council for government appointees, to give stakeholders from organized universities representation on the university council and to harmonize the administration of all public universities through a common management platform, among the challenges posed by the implementation of the bill.

Illustrating his position, he claimed that the new arrangement was only a means for the government to control university decisions given that the oversight responsibility of the university board invariably affects the way faculty are appointed, funding for research and policy decisions on the campus of the university.

"The council will become an instrument of government control. What will be the purpose of changing the composition of the current board if it is for direction and control purposes? "He told Evans Mensa, Host Newsfile.

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The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, agrees.

"What problem are they trying to solve?" He asked. "Why are you going through all these challenges if the problem you are trying to solve is unclear? I'm looking for the problem but I still can not find it, "Bentil said of the new bill.

Like Clément Apaak, he is convinced that the bill is just a side-by-side approach for politicians to control what is happening on the university campus.

But he warned politicians using the laws to find themselves in what is happening on college campuses

He said it was dangerous because a political office is ephemeral.

"Those who come after you will use it against you," he said Saturday in the same program.

Bentil is of the opinion that there are enough laws to manage each university in itself.

He added that diversifying the management of universities is in the spirit of achieving the single purpose for which each university was created, arguing that it would be inappropriate for technical universities to start offering programs for the university. humanity, what harmonization can do.

More opposition to the bill

Bentil and Apaak are in rich company.

Professor Yaw Gyampo, lecturer in Political Science, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, former Vice Chancellor of the University, and Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Law Professor at the University of Ghana and Representative of the University of Ghana 39, University Teachers Association, all questioned the reason for the new bill.

For example, Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua commented on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Monday: "reserve majority seats at the University Council for government appointees, give the right to appoint the chairman of the board to the government, to defer the power to dissolve an interim mandate to the government amounts to serious attempts to undermine academic freedom.