The Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, says the Mahama-led-government will not interfere in the academic freedom of universities in the country.
“There will be no interference in academic freedom. We will respect the letter and spirit of the Constitution, not to interfere even in the management and running of universities,” he emphasised.
Mr. Iddrisu was speaking at the fifth congregation of the Clement Kubindiwo Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo.
A total of 790 students, comprising 198 graduate students and 592 undergraduate completed various programmes and were conferred degrees.
He said interference in academic freedom was not part of President Mahama’s ‘Reset Agenda’ and further explained that the agenda was rather to offer universities unfettered freedom, contribute to research and meaningful social development of the country.
He noted that CKT-UTAS had some legacy debts related to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and said government would consider absorbing the debt and resolving other issues to enable the university to concentrate on its mandate.
“Also be assured that at any opportunity where government will deploy fibre infrastructure or broadband to universities, CKT-UTAS will be prioritised,” Mr. Iddrisu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tamale South Constituency, said.
Touching on the poor nature of roads on the university’s campus, Mr. Iddrisu said he had written to the Minister for Roads to prioritise university roads, saying, “I trust that the Minister for Roads will give your institution deserved attention in the allocation of road infrastructure for universities.”
He said President Mahama inherited an economy with unsustainable debts and that the 2025 budget of the Minister for Finance was corrective to reset the economy.
“And so, in 2026, we will begin a major infrastructure initiative on this campus in the 2026 budget,” the Sector Minister further assured the university community.
He acknowledged that even though CKT-UTAS was established in 2020, and not one of the lucky universities in the country, it had, over the years, made tremendous progress, and that the Ministry would continue to support the university to deliver on its mandate.
Mr. Iddrisu said: “Be assured that President Mahama will work with us to improve the quality of higher education in Ghana. In fact, we have already started demonstrating it.
On the national front, I am happy to observe and note that President Mahama has operationalised the national research fund, and an allocation of GH¢50 million has been dedicated to research in Ghana.”
The Minister added that government, through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), would fully fund five local Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programmes as part of the Mahama-led-government’s reset agenda.
“So, we will be happy to support those of you in the faculty who would want to take advantage of it,” he said.
Mr. Iddrisu admonished the graduates to serve the nation diligently and work to preserve their personal and institutional corporate reputations, noting that some of them, after national service, would begin to work with corporate entities.
He advised them to work honestly, devoid of corruption and corruption-related acts.
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