Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has demanded the immediate halt to the charging of unapproved fees by public universities without parliamentary approval.
He has threatened legal action over the matter.
The MP, who is the Chairman of Parliament’s Subsidiary Legislation Committee, has also written to the Minister of State In Charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah on the matter.
According to Mr Ayariga, the country’s laws require that various public universities, including the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Ghana must submit their proposed fees to Parliament for approval but that hasn’t happened since 1992.
In a two-page letter, he said the imposition of fees on students without prior approval by Parliament is contrary to the law. He noted that with the exception of Wa Polytechnic, all other tertiary institutions are in breach of the law.
Speaking in an interview with Joy News, the MP demanded that the sector minister should take steps to rectify this or face a court action.
“They must come to Parliament for approval that gives parliamentarians the opportunity to scrutinize the amount being charged and also get to appreciate the justification for charging that amount because the public is already financing the institution by paying the salaries of lectures and by providing infrastructure,” he noted.
Mr Ayariga also asserted that per Article 25 (1) of the Constitution, the State must work towards a system that makes higher education free.
He demanded that the Minister presents a clear framework similar to what has been with the case of free SHS.
“The constitution also insists that we should arrange to provide progressively free tertiary education and there has not been any clear indication by all governments of a programme to provide for a progressively free tertiary education system,” the MP stated.
Mr. Ayariga also claimed that the practice of fee-paying and non-fee paying in the admission system is unconstitutional as it is discriminatory and reprehensible. According to him, this must end.
He laments that some of these demands eventually become a burden on parliamentarians with such high fees.
He is calling for a bipartisan discussion of these issues with critical stakeholders to resolve this, or they will head to the courts to enforce the demands as economic and social rights.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. THIS IS NOT ABOUT NDC OR NPP THE UNIVERSITY AUTHORITIES DO NOT CHARGE FEE BASED ON WHICH PARTY ONE BELONGS TO.SO THE CASTIGATING OF HON. AYARIGA BY SOME COMMENTS ON THIS PLATFORM IS BASELESS AND NEEDLESS. WE SHOULD THANK HIM FOR BRINGING THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE TO THE FORE FOR THE PUBLIC TO KNOW THEIR RIGHTS WHEN COMES TO ISSUES REGARDING TERTIARY EDUCATION.
Private universities excel in everything & sadly greedy folks still want the government to help these private universities. How ungodly can human beings behave a such. And if fees are been charged to help compete with other private universities these greedy folks call mps have brains to speak out.
Follow this to the end. The situation of these fees has made most finance officer demi God's of the universities. The kind hostels some of them have put up is questionable, please check these fees
That's a good call. But the only problem I have is, why now?
Shuut uuup you untrustworthy MP. You just want to be heard.
U see why the pretender should have been thrown out of Parliament? He now knows all these things he thinks he can use to court popularity. Liars are always devious
Great contribution. My brother, I support you 150%. The fees that they charge do not go to government and no one knows how they account for it. Please, don't stop this crusade. Parents are also suffering. Thank you.
So Ayariga just saw the light and now he's even preaching free tertiary? OMG, what hypocritical hypocrisy he's exhibiting. Anyway, opposition no y3 paa
I don't think Ayariga is serious. Wasn't he once a Minister for Education? Let's have serious Parliamentarians, serious Ministers, serious Government; in short let's be serious in this country.
Students in tertiary education need to pay fees through loans. They should pay for everything except tuition. Ayariga, your government wanted to pay for everything including Utilities. That is why some universities charged certain fees. You went to school for free but many of us did not. Why did you not make these recommendation when your government was in power? Yes, I know why. You were busy stealing tractors.