The Students Representative Council of the University of Ghana has explained the reason for its withdrawal of funds without following due processes as required by the SRC Constitution.
During Friday’s [7th February 2020] SRC General Assembly meeting, the SRC’s budget statement indicated that over GHC 66,000 had been withdrawn without the knowledge and approval of the SRC General Assembly.
According to the budget statement of the SRC, the house approved a lump sum of GH¢ 365,452 from the SRC dues as expenses for the first semester of the 2019/2020 academic year.
However, the ‘Income Statement’ presented to the house showed that an amount of GH¢ 431,590 was withdrawn from the dues indicating an excess of GH¢ 66,138 spent.
The excess expenditure by the SRC, which is yet to be accounted for, has given rise to speculations that the SRC has misappropriated funds.
Speaking on allegations, SRC President, Isaac Agyemang, explained that they had to resort to withdrawing the money because they could not accrue the revenue they had estimated to generate from sponsorship deals and sale of matriculation tickets.
“We expected some funds from the sale of matriculation tickets and sponsorship. However, we were short of sponsorship and sales by 32,719.70 so there was a need for extra money,” he said
Isaac Agyemang added that the SRC constitution gave room for emergency withdrawal of funds.
He says that they had plans to present the budget to the General Assembly for ratifications.
There are however instances where after expenditure, the budget goes back to the General Assembly for ratification, and there are provisions in the constitution that gives means of mitigating such emergency situations. So our idea was to present the budget to the General Assembly and seek ratification,” he noted
Isaac Agyemang further disclosed that the decision to withdraw the money was collectively taken by himself, the SRC Treasurer, General Assembly Speaker, and the SRC President at the Accra City campus.
“…it should be said on record that at the meeting, the speaker of the General Assembly, city campus president, Me and the treasurer were present and documents were signed in that regard, as to the agreement of the increment in the satellite campus’ subvention and deficit in the budget.
Meanwhile, the Dean of Students has demanded to be furnished with all the documents pertaining to the alleged withdrawal of unapproved monies.
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Source: Harriet Ama Mansa Bio | universnewsroom.com
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