The Special Investigative Committee probing a Gh¢28 million procurement scandal at Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), a public institution in Ghana’s Upper East Region, has submitted its report to the university’s Governing Council, recommending that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, be sacked “for good cause”.
The six-member committee made the recommendation in an 18-page report after finding that the vice-chancellor caused Gh¢19.5 million in financial loss to the state.
The committee says the verdict complies with Statute 13(10) of the Bolgatanga Technical University Statutes.
According to the report, a signed copy of which Media Without Borders has sighted, the vice-chancellor distributed public property without permission, made purchases without approval, lied to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to cover up the unauthorised purchases, and deliberately misled the committee.
It was established during the committee’s hearings that the vice-chancellor awarded a Gh¢27,967,992.00 contract to M-Business Services Limited in 2024 to supply computers, projectors and classroom furniture to the university.
The contract was awarded to the company through single sourcing (choosing one supplier deliberately even though the market has more than one supplier who can supply the same thing) without approval from the PPA.
It was awarded without an approved procurement plan, without any documented needs assessment, without legal advice and without authorisation by the appropriate statutory body— the Central Tender Review Board.
Vice-Chancellor says an unidentified caller told him to award the contract
The items were supplied to the university by M-Business Services Limited at “grossly inflated” prices compared to open market rates, the report revealed.
The committee described the procurement process as a wasteful expenditure because the overpricing of the items alone caused to the state an estimated minimum financial loss exceeding Gh¢19, 577, 594.40.
Page 10 of the report says the vice-chancellor told the committee he was instructed by a GETFund caller to award the contract to M-Business Services Limited.
And when the committee asked him whether he knew the identity or authority of the caller, he replied that he did not know the caller and he did not even attempt to find out.
“The entire procurement process was controlled by the Vice Chancellor without checks, enabling the circumvention of all statutory approval mechanisms,” the committee stated on page 11 of the report.
Additionally, the vice-chancellor also authorised the disposal of 886 pieces of the university’s furniture without first constituting a Board of Survey, contrary to Sections 83-84 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663). He said he shared the 886 furniture items among some unnamed groups.
Other recommendations against vice-chancellor
The committee was set up on Friday, 13 February 2026, by the university’s Governing Council at the directive of the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu.
It sat for six sessions, reviewing records, inspecting items, and taking evidence from eleven persons. Four of the eleven individuals were subjects of investigation.
The four were: the suspended vice-chancellor, Prof. Samuel Erasmus Alnaa; Director of Procurement, Samuel Aduko; Director of Works and Physical Development, Engr. Tom Mboya Asigri; and Acting Director of Finance, Solomon Awariya. The others appeared before the committee as witnesses.
During the hearings, the committee also inspected the procured items on the university’s campus at Sumbrungu, a suburb of the region’s capital, Bolgatanga.
According to the report, the committee found out that “a significant quantity” of the items had not been allocated to their respective offices and end users as of April, 2026, since they were procured in 2024.
The committee discovered that some items supplied to the university’s library were unfit for purpose, an observation the university librarian reportedly made before the committee’s inspection. It also found out that the items procured did not match the university’s actual needs.
The committee went beyond just recommending the termination of Prof. Alnaa’s appointment. It also asked that the vice-chancellor be taken before a number of state investigative bodies for criminal investigations without delay.
“The Committee strongly recommends that the matter be referred without delay to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) of the Bank of Ghana for a full forensic and anti-money laundering investigation, including tracing of all payments made under the contract, investigation of the beneficial ownership of M-Business Services Limited, and identification of the GETFund official who instructed the Vice Chancellor to award the contract,” stated the report on page 12.
In other recommendations, the committee asked that Prof. Alnaa be referred to the Auditor-General “for formal disallowance and surcharge proceedings under Sections 96-97 of Act 921 in respect of the full contract value of GH¢27,967,992.00.”
“No severance or terminal benefits to be paid pending outcome of investigations and surcharge proceedings,” it added on page 15 of the report.
Punishments recommended against three other officials
The committee found out that Aduko failed in his core duties as Director of Procurement under Section 15 of Act 663, as amended.
He did not conduct evaluations or make award recommendations as required by Section 41 of the Act. He also failed to advise management on proper procurement methods.
Aduko admitted the university made false representations to the PPA to secure single-source approval. He wrongly told the committee the PPA approved it because things were urgent. In truth, the PPA approved it because the items had to match what the university already had.
He also claimed the PPA set contract prices, but BTU had submitted the invoice with prices to the PPA. He further misled the committee by stating Entity Tender Committee meetings take one month to convene, while the committee can meet as and when the need arises.
When the Acting Director of Finance testified, he told the committee he had labelled the transaction as “grant in kind” in the accounts. Awariya said this was done under former Director of Finance, Stephen Tobazaa. But other evidence given to the committee proved his claim was false. Media Without Borders learns Awariya no longer acts as Director of Finance.
Awariya was made Acting Director of Finance after Tobazaa temporarily lost his position as Director of Finance for speaking openly against corruption at the university.
Awariya, who was at the centre of a promotion controversy in 2024 at the same university, acted as Director of Finance from January 2025 to March 2026.
Tobazaa was reinstated to his position as the university’s substantive Director of Finance in April, 2026.
The report further revealed that Engr. Asigri lied to the committee. He said he watched the contract signing and checked that everything was done properly. That was not true, according to the report. He was also part of the team that decided to dispose of 866 furniture items. They did it without forming a Board of Survey, which the law requires under Sections 83-84 of Act 663.
The committee recommended that Aduko (Director of Procurement) be suspended and his rank reduced in accordance with Statute 54(14) of the BTU Statutes. It also asked that he be referred to the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) or other relevant professional bodies for review of his professional conduct.
While the committee similarly advised that Engr. Asigri (Director of Works and Physical Development) be suspended and his rank reduced in line with Statute 54(14) of the BTU Statutes, it also recommended that Awariya (former Acting Director of Finance) be warned for providing incorrect information to the committee.
“The scale and nature of the breaches could not be explained as procedural errors,” the committee concluded, demanding “urgent intervention by investigative and accountability institutions to protect public funds and restore confidence in the university.”
The six-member committee comprises: Dr. Aaron Issa Anafure, chairman of the committee and President’s appointee on the university’s Governing Council; Fawzia Abagnamah Yakubu, member of the committee and President’s appointee on the council; and Engr. Ls. Surv. Dr. George A. Dordah, member of the committee and representative of the Technical Universities Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) on the council.
The rest are: Prof. Oswald Atiga, member of the committee and Head of Procurement and Logistics Management Department at the university; Maxwell Agbambilla (Esq.), member and legal resource person; and Richard A. Atia, secretary to the committee and Acting Registrar of the university.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana/West Africa
