VC urges SRCs to be transparent

Accra, April 19, GNA - Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana, on Tuesday called on the Students Representative Council (SRC) to be more transparent in its operations, by keeping good records of its financial disbursements to prevent being accused of financial malfeasance.

He further urged the SRC to cultivate the habit of presenting its budget and proposals of programme outlines for the semester early enough to enable it to go through the normal scrutiny of the Financial Administration Unit without any rush. This would enable the required funding to be released on time for their activities.

Prof. Asenso-Okyere, who was speaking at a day's workshop on "Transparency and Accountability for Student Leaders", said it was a pre-requisite for every good leadership to be very transparent and ensure that proper documentation was kept to prevent any doubt. The workshop is to enlighten the Student Leaders on the importance of information circulation and the need to collaborate and co-operate with the University Administration to achieve harmony.

Prof Asenso-Okyere called for free flow of information between the SRC and the student body to clear all doubts and said the University Council was ready to do all it could to ensure harmony among students. Mr John Etti Minlah, Finance Director of the University, explained that late proposals from the SRC often hindered the work of Finance Administration Unit, since they had to rush through processing. "I urge you to put in extra effort to help to minimise the pressure that you often put us through," he said.

Ms Adoma Amina, Acting SRC Vice President, called on the executive members of the Council to reactivate their roles in information circulation to all levels, "as information circulation is critical and crucial to the concept of transparency and accountability".

She said it was unfortunate that Student Leaders at the tail end of their administration had often been victims of allegations of financial malfeasance and this had made society to perceive student administrations as unaccountable.

She stated, however, that due to the quality book-keeping of accounts by the Finance Committee of the SRC, auditors had little problem in handling the financial reports of the administration for the first six months.

Ms Amina urged all Student Leaders to adhere to the principles of accounting to ensure transparency and accountability in their areas of operation.