A number of Ghanaians have criticised the Institute of Chartered Accountants-Ghana (ICAG) for reportedly failing to suspend a member accused of receiving double salary and allowances as a director of finance at the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS).
Abdulai Suglo drew Gh¢115,516.62 (a current equivalent of $8760.18) in salaries and allowances from SDD-UBIDS and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) at the same time for 19 months between June 2020 and December 2021.
External auditors from the Ghana Audit Service (GAS) discovered the scandal while reviewing the financial records of SDD-UBIDS in 2023.
The 2023 Report of the Auditor-General subsequently stated on page 245 that Suglo proposed to pay the money back in a monthly instalment of Gh¢6,417.59 over a period of 18 months.
The same page says he was directed by the audit service to pay the money (Gh¢115,516.62) into the Auditor-General’s Recoveries Account number 1018331470015 at the Bank of Ghana.
When Suglo appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament on Friday, 16 August 2024, he admitted during a televised sitting that he received double salary from the two public universities.
But he said he did so because SDD-UBIDS failed to honour some terms and conditions of employment to which senior members of the university, including him, were entitled.
He also denied ever proposing to refund the money in instalments as stated in the 2023 auditor-general’s report.
The committee, chaired by James Klutse Avedzi, affirmed that it was unlawful for any employee in Ghana to draw double salary from the consolidated fund or the public purse and said under no circumstances should any worker do so.
The committee consequently concluded that Suglo’s action was unlawful and directed him to refund the money to the state.
Recently, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) opened a file on the matter to put Suglo on trial. The OSP has invited at least three senior members of SDD-UBIDS so far to Accra for answers in relation to the double-salary scandal.
While the OSP’s action is in progress, some Ghanaians say they are shocked Suglo has not been suspended yet from some roles he reportedly plays as an ICAG member. They say he is an ICAG examiner and marks professional-level examination scripts for the institute.
“As a professional body that cares about standards and quality, the ICAG should have suspended him from being an examiner or marking exam scripts. If he’s found innocent after the ongoing investigations, they can reinstate him.
“But they (the ICAG) don’t care. They still use him to mark scripts. They finished exams about two months ago and he was among those they engaged to mark the scripts,” Nurudeen Yahaya, a social development worker based in Accra, said.
Several chartered accountants are among those who have voiced their concerns regarding Suglo’s double-salary chronicle, saying his action has brought discredit on both the profession and the ICAG. They do not want their names associated with their comments in this publication for fear that they would be victimised.
“An accountant who is also a member of the institute is not even supposed to engage in receipt of double salary in any form because it brings both the profession and the institute into disrepute,” remarked an ICAG member.
“And surprisingly he is allowed to mark scripts for chartered accounting candidates,” another ICAG member added.
Some of the chartered accountants also expressed the view that, until Suglo was cleared of any wrongdoing, engaging him to mark ICAG exam scripts could undermine the credibility of the examinations.
“If the institute was serious about integrity issues, an accountant who has publicly admitted taking double salary before the Public Accounts Committee— we watched it live on the television and it is on YouTube— should not be allowed to continue to mark papers of professional exams at least for now,” a member of the institute stated.
Another colleague backed her: “These are not mere academic examinations. They are professional exams where ethics, principles and integrity play a critical role in how the general public perceives the credibility of such examinations.”
What ICAG Act says about members accused of professional misconduct
Two people lodged separate petitions with the ICAG in 2023 and 2024 against Suglo with respect to the double-salary issue.
The first petition, dated 5th December 2023, was filed by an SDD-UBIDS alumnus named Zakaria Aliu Domanangmine. He is also an ICAG fellow, bearing the membership number 107611.
The second petition, dated 9th September 2024, was lodged by Prof. Yakubu Awudu Sare, a finance professor in the SDD-UBIDS’ Department of Banking and Finance. He doubles as the dean of SDD-UBIDS’ School of Business.
In response to those petitions, Suglo wrote to ICAG on Wednesday, 9 October 2024, stating his readiness to “cooperate fully” in assisting the institute to resolve the issues the petitioners raised against him in a “transparent and professional manner.”
Following public concerns that ICAG authorities were not dealing with the two petitions as expected, Media Without Borders telephoned the ICAG’s chief executive officer (CEO), Paul Kwasi Agyemang, on Tuesday, 15 April 2025, for answers on the progress of action on the petitions.
Responding, the CEO asked that this media outlet formally apply to the institute for the information being sought.
On Tuesday, 6 May 2025, Media Without Borders couriered a letter to the ICAG, addressed to the CEO. This media outlet would resort to the Right to Information (RTI) Commission should the institute decline to provide the requested information.
The author of this report contacted the CEO on Thursday, 8 May 2025, regarding the allegations of Suglo’s engagement as an ICAG examiner. He did not make any comment on it.
Meanwhile, the ICAG Act 1058 of 2020 says the institute may suspend a member where an offence the member is said to have committed is under investigation and where an allegation of professional misconduct has been levelled against an ICAG member.
Those grounds of suspension are found at Sections (a) and (b) under Article 21 of the Act.
There is no public statement or any proof available to the public showing that the ICAG has suspended Suglo in the wake of the double-salary allegations levelled against him and his own confession before the Public Accounts Committee.
Background
While Suglo was working at KNUST as a senior accountant, he took a sabbatical leave to take up a new job as an interim director of finance at SDD-UBIDS in Wa, capital of the Upper West region.
A sabbatical leave, also known as a sabbatical, is a period away from work granted to an employee for a period longer than a normal leave to invest the time in some personal passions and priorities.
Although he was scheduled to start his sabbatical leave from KNUST on 10th August 2020 and end it on 9th August 2021, he started working at SDD-UBIDS in June, 2020.
And before he arrived in Wa from Kumasi, a letter signed by a KNUST assistant registrar, Yvonne Baiden, forewarned him against drawing double salary.
The letter partly read:
The condition of service regarding sabbatical leave is that the university should continue to pay your basic salary.
However, based on the external auditors’ recommendation, an employee cannot draw double salary from the consolidated fund.
In view of this, you can either draw your basic salary from the university or the institution you are serving during the sabbatical leave, but not both.
The following year (2021), Suglo was made a substantive director of finance by the governing council of the SDD-UBIDS.
After his sabbatical leave ended in 2021, he was granted a one-year extension by KNUST upon request. And when the extension ran out, he remained at SDD-UBIDS by applying to KNUST for a secondment (a temporary transfer) and subsequently for a leave of absence.
While he was working at SDD-UBIDS, he was drawing salaries and allowances from both KNUST and SDD-UBIDS at the same time. Months after the external auditors discovered the double-salary scandal, he resigned from SDD-UBIDS.
He explained in his resignation letter, dated 1st August 2024, that his leave of absence from KNUST had ended and the university (KNUST) had rejected his extension request. But he said he was prepared to remain at SDD-UBIDS, and he did remain, until 6th January 2025, to “ensure a smooth transition.”
He exited SDD-UBIDS in January, 2025, as he had indicated in his resignation letter in August, 2024.
Media Without Borders learns the KNUST management moved him to the university’s remote campus at Obuasi, Ashanti Region, upon his return from the leave of absence.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
