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Few weeks ago, I tried contributing my quota to the
building of a good reputation for the University for Development Studies (UDS)
by making a seemingly rare attempt to expose a canker which symptoms include tribalism, nepotism and ineptitude, and
help nip it in the bud.
Every right
thinking individual including me fear this canker can destroy any great
institution such as the UDS, especially when its administration is manned by a
leadership that is over complacent, pessimistic, timid, happy-go-lucky and
worse of all, lack wisdom.
Obviously, some
few people who do not want to be tagged as being tribalistic, nepotistic and
inept were somehow displeased with the way and manner I played my watchdog role
in an article that triggered a lot of responses from an array of current and
former students as well as former employees of the university.
Nonetheless,
many were those who expressed gratitude for my daring and unbiased attempt to
FURTHER expose something that has, in their own words, existed for over a
decade now and continues to exist. Whilst few people personally called me to
say “thank you for your good work”, others made similar expressions on other
social networks particularly on http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=268542, where the article was given some
prominence.
Before I tell
anyone reading this piece about the perception or reality surrounding the trail
of corrupt practices in the UDS, kindly allow me to share with you some of the
comments made on Ghanaweb when the previous article captioned:“Tribalism,
nepotism and Ineptitude Destroying UDS” was published. Some of the few
comments I’ve paraphrased read: letters sent to the UDS by people including job
seekers mysteriously get missing when their owners make follow-ups later;
graduate programmes have began to proliferate but the qualified people to
handle such courses leave much to be desired. The students are being sacrificed
for the university’s management; and Ask Professor Dittoh when he was Pro-Vice
Chancellor, it was as if UDS was in the pocket of Frafras.
Also, a student
who called from the Wa campus of UDS complained bitterly that three different
lecturers who currently handle culture and management; management accounting;
and economics are inept and ought to be replaced by the authorities. “They
don’t know their left from their right anytime they come to class and when they
leave, my mates and I become even more confuse”. These and many more were some
of the comments I received from readers of my previous article.
Indeed, a
message that appeared to speak in volumes regarding the tribal cards that are
being played by some self-centered people in the UDS was one I received during
a chat with a student on one of the social media websites. She said: “…..the
Ewes want to be heads….the Dagombas think it’s their home and demand
unnecessary respect, the Kwahu boys feel they have the money, and the Dagaabas
put up the better than thou attitude.”
Fellow countrymen
and women, the problem at the UDS is indeed hydra-headed and it will take a
leader with patience, openness, tactfulness and above all good sense of
judgment to be able to deal with this problem without stepping on toes. I
thought the issue of tribalism, nepotism and ineptitude was just within the
circles of the three descendants of Naa Gbewa of the ancient Mole-Dagbani
Kingdom who I prefer to call X, Y and Z. So as it stands now, I can’t help but
to admit that there’s something more to the UDS problem than meets the eye.
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| UDS Central Administration |
The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary defines CORRUPTION as “illegal,
bad or dishonest behaviour, especially by people in positions of power”.
From the dictionary of my mental faculties, I also define CORRUPTION as “The absence of transparency and
accountability in both the private and public lives of every human, especially
persons in positions of power”.
Following the publication of my previous article about the
UDS, some of those who called me to make comments after reading it, encouraged
me to write about certain incongruous happenings in the administration of MY
and of course OUR university, which they were not enthuse with.
For instance, like in most tertiary and even second cycle
institutions, it is an established and legally accepted norm by authorities of
the UDS to conduct medical fitness tests on every fresh student who gains
admission into the university as part of admission requirements.
The reason for such medical tests I understand, is to enable
authorities and medical facilities or doctors to know about the medical history
of each student in their custody obviously to avoid complications in the event
of sickness.
Perhaps, [my conjecture] another reason why university
officials would conduct medical tests on students, is to enable them use data
collated for research purposes in future, since they believe in research as an
elixir to the health problems confronting the people in the area the university
operates and Ghana as a whole.
Fortunately or unfortunately, authorities of the UDS sources
claimed, refuse to disclose tests results to students who submit to the various
tests conducted on them by a team of ‘independent medical examiners’ who move
from campus to campus every year to conduct the tests. Patrick [not his real
name] and a third year student of the Wa campus of the university in a chat
with me via phone disclosed that, all members of his batch in 2010 were asked
to bring samples of their faeces and urine for the tests to be conducted. Even
though he is not sure of the kind of tests that were conducted using their
faeces and urine, he suspects the test could include establishing whether there
is any presence of deadly viruses, renal/liver conditions, parasites, cancer,
urinary tract infections, as well as other communicable diseases in their
systems. Bottom-line; to establish whether each individual student is medically
fit to go through the four/seven-year academic programme.
I learned that few years ago, authorities of the UDS gave
students the free will to choose a recognized medical facility of their choice
to have them examined. It was not until 2010, when authorities reportedly
decided to take full charge of the medical examination by awarding it on
contract to “independent medical examiners” who in collaboration with the
university, charged and continue to charge students exorbitant fees for the
tests, which they complain about. I’m told students pay not less than GH¢50.00 for
the medical test and that, it was most likely to increase to GH¢100.00 for shortlisted
applicants of the 2013/2014 academic year.
Honestly, I think this whole exercise being undertaken by
the authorities of the UDS is good. But the few concerns that beg for answers
and/or explanations from authorities of the university are (i) Are the
authorities hiding behind the medical tests to rob poor students and their
parents of their few coins? (ii) Am not a medical practitioner but with the
little knowledge I have as a human rights journalist, I think it’s against the
fundamental human rights of students of the UDS to be denied knowledge of their
medical condition by the authorities after subjecting them to medical
laboratory tests. They deserve to know whether they are sick or not, otherwise I
dare say that, the students are being used as “guinea pigs” by the university
officials to conduct some lucrative research.
Another serious concern that is worth mentioning even though
it is a rumour, is that some IT officials of the university have been
clandestinely inserting their own list of names of applicants into the final
list of applicants prepared by the Registrar’s office for admission in every
academic year. From the scuttlebutt, this issue was seriously discussed at a
recent meeting of university authorities and plans were fashioned out to expel
any staff of the IT Department that would be found culpable.
Frankly, I treated the aforementioned allegation with
contempt when I first heard it. Why am I saying this? Every year, the list of
all qualified applicants is published on www.uds.edu.gh with unique code or
numbers generated for each shortlisted applicant. Besides, admission letters
are sent later to each qualified applicant who gains admission into the
university and so it stands to reason that even if any IT official inserts any name
into the list of the Registrar, it would be impossible for that IT official to
forge the signature of the Registrar on admission letters of any so called
unqualified applicants list.
But like I always say, there is an iota of truth in every
rumour and like everyone else, I think university authorities should come clean
on this. There should be no attempt to cover-up for anybody who is found guilty
of any misdeed if what I’m hearing is anything to go by. They that have
ears let them hear, and if they that heed are wise, let them act.
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