Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman
Polytechnics in the country emerged as the third most notorious group of institutions cited in IMANI Ghana’s Fiscal Irregularities Index released in Accra.
Between 2012 and 2014, financial irregularities in polytechnics totaled GH¢84.2 million, far less than that of MDAs and Public Boards, but significantly higher than of pre-university educational institutions.
Overall, these financial irregularities showed a downward trend, dropping from GH¢38 million in 2012 to GH¢24 million in 2013, and further down to GH¢21 million in 2014.
Over the three-year period, cash irregularities proved to be the largest type of irregularity by far, comprising over 76 percent of total irregularities.
This was followed by contract irregularities which showed the most volatility in the time period and represented 13.3 percent of total irregularities.
There are a number of wide ranging volatilities within individual polytechnics – Tamale Polytechnic, for example, racked up GH¢3.5 million in contract irregularities alone in 2012, but had none in that irregularity category in the other two years.
Kumasi Polytechnic
Ranking either first or second in the yearly rankings across the three years, Kumasi Polytechnic was first on the cumulative list, racking up GH¢23.7 million in irregularities, representing 28.2 percent of the cumulative total for this category.
More than 95 percent of the institutions’ irregularities involved cash irregularities.
As such, volatility in cash irregularities contributed strongly to its total irregularities. In particular, payments from the institutions’ Internally Generated Funds (IGF) were made without parliamentary approval, totaling GH¢7.4 million in 2013 and GH¢10.6 million in 2014.
Worryingly, it appears that these cash irregularities had been increasing, nearly tripling from GH¢4.2 million in 2012 to GH¢10.7 million in 2013 before dropping slightly to GH¢7.7 million in 2014.
Takoradi Polytechnic
Ranking second on the list with a total of GH¢23.6 million in irregularities, representing 28 percent of the cumulative total, Takoradi Polytechnic seemed to be somewhat of an outlier.
In 2012, the GH¢22.5 million in irregularities is more than double of any other polytechnics in the three-year period examined. This resulted from undernoted cash, and more specifically, IGF payments totaling more than GH¢19 million that were also made without parliamentary approval.
Sunyani Polytechnic
With GH¢15 million in total financial irregularities, representing 17.8 percent of the cumulative total, Sunyani Polytechnic ranked third within this category.
Cash irregularities were the predominant category of irregularities for this polytechnic. Sunyani Polytechnic accrued only GH¢88,000 in 2012, but this shot up to GH¢7.5 million in 2013, staying up at GH¢7.3 million in 2014. These irregularities were largely cash related.
Wa Polytechnic
Wa Polytechnic, with financial irregularities totaling GH¢7.1 million, representing 8.4 percent of cumulative irregularities within this category, ranked fourth on the list.
Despite accruing only half the total irregularities of Sunyani Polytechnic, Wa Polytechnic was consistently ranked within the top half of the list, placing third in 2013 and 2014. Moreover, both its financial irregularities and percentile contributions increased yearly, ranging from four percent in 2012 to 16 percent in 2014.
Unlike the top three polytechnics, these irregularities were predominantly contract related, making up more than 75 percent of all of the institutions’ total irregularities.
By Samuel Boadi