ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION, MALADMINISTRATION AND ABUSE OF OFFICE BY THE BIUST VICECHANCELLOR

qhe rniversity is disappointed at the level of inaccuracies reported in the punday ptandard kewspaper about the institution and the sice Chancellor. te wish to put it on record that the allegations by our employee were reported last year peptember 2M22 to the Council through the Chairperson and the Council euman oesources Committee Chairperson. qhe Committee found the allegations serious enough to warrant an investigation. qhe investigations were done and completed in kovember of 2M22.

qhere are inexactitudes being peddled which puts the rniversity under a duty to respond in the public interest to demonstrate that allegations are false, misleading and are done to tarnish the good name of the institution and that of the sice Chancellor. Below are critical questions to be answered from the story and we provide answers thereto for the public benefit.

Q1 Is the Vice Chancellor currently occupying more than one house?

1. qhis allegation was investigated by the governing structures of the institution and was found to be false and without merit. qhe sice Chancellor is occupying only one house rented by the institution on his behalf. qhis is in recognition of the fact that he was seriously underhoused for a period exceeding five years while the University intended to build a proper Vice Chancellor’s Residence. During that time the rniversity took a decision to allocate him a house temporarily on campus and another house was rented for the rniversity duests. ft is therefore inaccurate to state that the sice Chancellor is occupying more than one house when he is occupying only one house.

2. then he was allocated the rented house, the staff house was returned to the rniversity pool and was available for occupation by other staff members. ee was therefore cleared by the Council euman oesources Committee of any wrongdoing in relation hereto.

Q2 Has the VC accessed the benefits from an old contract?

The VC has not accessed benefits from his old contract and has not yet exhausted benefits from his current contract. The University acknowledged that he was under housed for his initial contract and therefore was unable to access some of the benefits. What is critical is that the benefits are for the Vice Chancellor position, but the property remains that of the institution when the current VC leaves office. The furniture becomes part of the Vice Chancellor’s residence. The Council Human Resources Committee found no evidence of abuse of office in relation hereto and dismissed this allegation.

Q3 Is the Vice Chancellor purchasing the University provided motor vehicle outside the parameters of his contract?

1. The Vice Chancellor’s contract provides that he is entitled to an E400 or an equivalent motor vehicle. The Vice Chancellor sought approval from the Council Chairperson then, to get the Range Rover as an equivalent to the E 400 and this request was approved.

2. qhe Council euman oesources Committee found no evidence of impropriety in the conduct of the sice Chancellor in processing this benefit. The Council however cautioned that the policies should be revised to stipulate price ranges to guard against incidents of abuse.

Q4. Is the Vice Chancellor misusing his credit card to buy booze amounting to P100,000.00?

qhis is an unfortunate allegation and is very far from the truth. qhe sice Chancellor has got a budget allocation for the entertainment of University guests during University events like the Graduation Ceremonies, ministerial & Permanent Secretaries’ visits and STEM activities. qhe allocation is for refreshments. qhe sice Chancellor procedurally accesses his allocation without exceeding his limit. that is also important to note is that the University fund raises for these events and the expenditure will equally reflect on the University systems.

qhe rniversity Council euman oesources Committee investigated and found that the sice Chancellor did not expend money wastefully and that the procurement was in line with expenditure and within his budget allocation.

qhe Council also observed that the expenditure was over a period of time and not a once of event that will raise alarm of possible abuse.

Q5 Has the Vice Chancellor applied and awarded himself a contract of employment as Professor.

fn accordance with best practice for academic institutions and in accordance with the rniversity ptatutes the sice Chancellor at the end of his tenure returns to the relevant department at the appropriate rank as an employee of the institution. ft is important to clarify that the sice Chancellor is entitled to notify the rniversity and apply for a position at the appropriate rank and department. qhe sice Chancellor currently holds one contract of employment which he is currently being remunerated under.

Q6 When were the investigations completed by the CHRC?

ft is interesting to note that the investigations were conducted, and the sice Chancellor was cleared of all the allegations in kovember 2M22.ft is only after the suspension of our employee that a fresh campaign against the rniversity is launched on the same subject by the same person.

fn conclusion it is important to inform the public that these complaints have been lodged with other investigative and enforcement arms of government and the rniversity has cooperated and submitted all relevant information relating to allegations.