PAC Orders UG To Recover Over $380k Debt from Debtors

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has directed the management of the University of Ghana to recover an amount of $383,000 from its debtors by the end of the year 2024

These debtors include Telecel Ghana, Airteltigo, MultiChoice, NABPTEX, Pro Credit Savings and Loans Limited now Fidelity Bank, and Crystal TV among others.

The order comes on the back of the Auditor General’s report, which identified several institutions that have owed the university for over nine years.

The committee gave the directive during its Tuesday August 13, sitting in Parliament

Excerpts of the Auditor General’s report highlighted the need for the university management to take prompt action to retrieve every outstanding amounts owed the institution.

Answering questions from members of the committee, during the hearing, the UG Director of Finance, Madam Bernice Agudu, explained the delay in retrieving monies owed the university was that some of the debtors are disputing their debts, thus causing delays.

“Some of them are disputing the amount. So you have to sit with them and reconcile and agree and then you take it from there…Now we have agreed on an amount, so demand letters have been sent based on the amount. We did a reconciliation with them, and indeed, the figure has been reconciled down to 383,753.96 dollars,” the UG Director of Finance further explained.

However, she was quick to point out that measures are being taken to address the situation.

Mrs. Agudu stated, “We are trying to streamline things now. We have backlog issues we inherited. We are trying to do a clean-up, review processes and get everything done. So we now have a credit policy which will guide some of this.”