A public university in Ghana’s Upper East Region has lost ¢19.5 million (a current equivalent of $1.8 million) after its vice-chancellor awarded a ¢28 million ($2.523 million) contract on the instruction of an anonymous phone caller.
A special investigative committee set up by the Governing Council of the affected institution, Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), to probe the procurement scandal revealed this in an eighteen-page report sighted by Media Without Borders.
The vice-chancellor, Prof. Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, who was suspended before the investigation began, told the committee he received the anonymous instruction by phone from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to award the contract to M-Business Services Limited.
According to the report, the committee established that Prof. Alnaa awarded the contract to the company in 2024 at a “grossly inflated” ¢27,967,992.00 to supply computers, projectors, photocopiers, air conditioners and furniture to the university.
“The Committee found that the procurement outcome did not achieve value for money and that the University incurred significant financial loss as a result of the Vice Chancellor’s failure to comply with the relevant procurement laws.
“Had the proper competitive tendering process been followed under Section 35 of Act 663 (as amended), or had the Vice Chancellor at minimum sought alternative quotations, the University could have saved in excess of seventy percent (70%) or ¢19,577,594.40 of the total contract value of ¢27,967,992.00,” page 9 of the report states.
The institution, established in 1999, was known as Bolgatanga Polytechnic (B-Poly) until it was upgraded to a technical university in April 2020, under the Technical Universities Amendment Act 2020.
The report reveals that the contract was awarded through sole sourcing without approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), without an approved procurement plan, without any documented needs assessment, without legal advice and without authorisation by the appropriate statutory body— the Central Tender Review Board.
The committee describes the contract as ‘wasteful expenditure.’
The committee stated that making such purchases without the appropriate approval contravened Sections 83-84 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended by Act 914.
It also breached the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) and the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378).
The report further states that the vice-chancellor lied to the PPA to cover up the unauthorised purchases and deliberately misled the committee during the investigation.
The committee called the procurement process “a wasteful expenditure” and also found that it “did not adequately address the real needs” of the university.
“The entire procurement process was controlled by the Vice Chancellor without checks, enabling the circumvention of all statutory approval mechanisms,” the committee stated on page 11 of the report.
In further breach of Sections 83-84 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), the vice-chancellor authorised the disposal of 886 university furniture items without first constituting a Board of Survey. He admitted to sharing the 886 items among unnamed groups.
Recommendations by Committee
The committee recommended, on page 15 of the report, the termination of the vice-chancellor’s appointment “for good cause” and pursuant to Statute 13(10) of the BTU Statutes.
The committee’s recommendations went further than terminating Prof. Alnaa’s appointment. It also demanded that the vice-chancellor be handed over to state investigative bodies for criminal prosecution without delay.
“The Committee strongly recommends that the matter be referred without delay to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) of the Bank of Ghana for a full forensic and anti-money laundering investigation, including tracing of all payments made under the contract, investigation of the beneficial ownership of M-Business Services Limited, and identification of the GETFund official who instructed the Vice Chancellor to award the contract,” says the report on page 12.
In other recommendations, the committee also asked that Prof. Alnaa be sent to the Auditor-General to be charged and made to pay back to the state the full Gh¢27,967,992.00 from the contract, based on Sections 96-97 of Act 921.
“No severance or terminal benefits to be paid pending outcome of investigations and surcharge proceedings,” it added on page 15 of the report.
Three other staff members implicated
The committee’s trial axe did not fall on the vice-chancellor alone. Three other members of the university’s staff were implicated, too.
They were: the Director of Procurement, Samuel Aduko; the Director of Works and Physical Development, Engr. Tom Mboya Asigri, and Acting Director of Finance, Solomon Awariya.
And all three appeared before the committee as did the vice-chancellor.
The committee found that Aduko, as Director of Procurement, failed in his core duties under Section 15 of Act 663, as amended. He did not conduct evaluations or make award recommendations as required by Section 41, and he failed to advise management on proper procurement methods.
Aduko admitted the university made false representations to the PPA to obtain single-source approval. He initially told the committee the approval was granted due to urgency. The PPA actually approved it because the items had to match the university’s existing equipment.
He also claimed the PPA set the contract prices, even though BTU had submitted the invoice with prices to the PPA. He further misled the committee by saying Entity Tender Committee meetings usually took one month to convene, when the committee could actually meet as and when needed.
When the Acting Director of Finance, Awariya, testified, he said he recorded the transaction as “grant in kind” in the accounts. Awariya attributed this to former Director of Finance Stephen Tobazaa. However, other evidence before the committee contradicted his claim. Awariya is no longer the Acting Director of Finance.
Awariya became Acting Director of Finance after Tobazaa was temporarily removed for speaking out against corruption at the university. Awariya was also involved in a promotion dispute that rocked the same university in 2024.
He served as Acting Director of Finance from January 2025 to March 2026. Tobazaa got his job back as the university’s main Director of Finance in April 2026.
The report also said Engr. Asigri lied to the committee. He claimed he watched the contract signing and made sure everything was proper. The report says that was false. He was also part of the group that disposed of 866 furniture items without setting up a Board of Survey, which Sections 83-84 of Act 663 require.
Committee’s recommendations against the three officials
The committee recommended that Aduko, the Director of Procurement, be suspended and demoted under Statute 54(14) of the BTU Statutes.
It also asked that Aduko be reported to the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) or other professional bodies for a review of his conduct.
The committee also said Engr. Asigri, the Director of Works and Physical Development, should be suspended and demoted under Statute 54(14) of the BTU Statutes, just like Aduko.
For Awariya, the former Acting Director of Finance, the committee only recommended a warning because he gave the committee wrong information.
“The scale and nature of the breaches could not be explained as procedural errors,” the committee affirmed.
It concluded by stressing the need for “urgent intervention by investigative and accountability institutions to protect public funds and restore confidence in the university.”
Composition of the committee
The six-member committee was set up on Friday, 13 February 2026, by the university’s Governing Council at the directive of the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu.
It comprised: Dr. Aaron Issa Anafure, chairman of the committee and President’s appointee on the university’s Governing Council; Fawzia Abagnamah Yakubu, member of the committee and President’s appointee on the council; and Engr. Ls. Surv. Dr. George A. Dordah, member of the committee and representative of the Technical Universities Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) on the council.
The rest were: Prof. Oswald Atiga, member of the committee and Head of Procurement and Logistics Management Department at the university; Maxwell Agbambilla (Esq.), member and legal resource person; and Richard A. Atia, secretary to the committee and Acting Registrar of the university.
The committee started its work on Wednesday, 25 February 2026, at Extee Crystal Hotel in Bolgatanga.
It sat for six days and heard from eleven people, both in writing and in person. All BTU staff being investigated were allowed to send written replies first, then speak to the committee.
The suspended vice-chancellor appeared and answered questions. The rest of the witnesses only gave oral testimony.
The committee submitted its report to the university’s Governing Council in April, 2026.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana/West Africa
