Use proper channels to wean off universities if you want to, Aryeetey
Govt announces weaning off public universities from payroll
Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, has intimated that weaning off public universities from government’s payroll will not solve Ghana’s current economic crisis.
According to the professor, Ghanaians should be allowed to decide whether they prefer public or private universities, noting that government has the prerogative to make the decision of whether to privatize public Universities or not, but should go through the right processes.
This comes after the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced the government’s intention to wean public tertiary institutions off the state payroll.
The finance minister said the move is part of the government’s medium-term measures to revive the crisis-hit economy.
Speaking in an Asaase News interview, Professor Aryeetey noted, “This is not the kind of thing that you decide in one day in order to solve a particular problem with your finances. Weaning universities off the public purse effectively means you are privatising your universities.
“These are public universities and they are public for a purpose.
“It’s for the people of Ghana to decide whether they want public or private universities. If they want private universities, that’s a decision that we make as a people, not simply a response to challenges with our budget,” he said.
According to him, “This is not a matter of [if] the government has no right or not: it’s a matter of if you want to wean them off, you should know the implications; you should know what it means and use the proper channels for having that discussion.
“My point now is that, simply because there’s a budgetary challenge, weaning the university off [government payroll] cannot be the solution.”
Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Former UG Vice Chancellor