The Tamale Technical University has been plunged into confusion after two staff of the school are indicted by the institution’s interim management body for supervising illegal abortions by students.
The two staff; Mohammmed Alhassan Kamaldeen, the payroll officer and Yakubu Abdul Jalel, Manager of the school’s hospital, were indicted after two separate committees found them culpable of multiple allegations including supervising over illegal abortions and manipulation of the payroll system, respectively.
The Vice Chancellor of the school, Dr. Dauda Abdul Manan explained the two staff became subjects of investigations after a review committee, during this year’s routine review exercise, presented a disturbing report of several violations, mismanagement and misconduct, against them.
He said the Interim Management constituted an Executive Committee to investigate the review committee’s report on the two individuals.
The Acting Finance Officer of the university, Alhaji Abdul Razak Sharaa, member of the executive committee, said the payroll officer, Kamaldeen was investigated for tempering with the internal payroll system which caused some staff to suffer salary deductions and left the system in a comprising mode. He said, during the investigations, the officer wasn’t entirely cooperative and refused to make available his payroll when the committee requested.
Alhaji Sharaa also disclosed the allegations against the hospital manager. According to him, Yakubu Jalel mismanaged the facility and left a high debt of nearly GH50,000 just nine months into operation. He said the committee again investigated the manager on a different allegation that he sanctioned the carrying out of illegal abortion and operation of Health Insurance Scheme, when the hospital wasn’t accredited for the services.
The vice chancellor added that an Implementation Committee which reviewed the works of the Executive Committee established wrongdoing against the staff and recommended their indictment.
Dr. Manan said the two have since been removed from their positions.
The Payroll officer has been demoted to now work in the Finance Office and the hospital manager sent to the Registrar’s office pending the full implementation of the the committee’s recommendations.
To the extent that criminal allegations were part of the case against the hospital manager, for instance, the acting finance officer said, Jalel connived with some sale clerks of pharmacies in town to smuggle medicines to the hospital without being documented. He said evidence of this allegation was obtained by the executive committee from the school’s internal audit office.
Since 2016, he said the absence of the council has kept the school “in limbo for very long time”, adding that, without the Council, some of the recommendations against the indicted officials would not able to be enforced.
“There are a lot of things we have had to put on hold like that. I can give you a long list of such issues,” the chancellor lamented.
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