The much-talked-about Public Universities Bill (PUB) was suspended in Parliament on Wednesday (16 December), pending further consultation.
The PUB had gone through a second reading in the House on Tuesday.
The decision to suspend the bill follows a consultative meeting between the vice-president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the select committee on education on Wednesday.
Before the suspension of the bill, stakeholders such as the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG), the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG), vice-chancellors and other members of the academia had kicked against the bill, arguing that it frowns on academic freedom and the autonomy of public universities.
Input secure
Speaking to the media, the chairman of the education committee, William Quaittoo, said that Parliament will not pass the Public Universities Bill until it receives more advice from UTAG and other stakeholders.
He said during the meeting, Dr Bawumia promised the leadership of UTAG that their input will be incorporated in the bill before it returns to Parliament.
In a statement, UTAG said: “At the meeting, the vice-president, on behalf of the government, upheld the directive of the Speaker of Parliament that the parliamentary select committee on education should carry out thorough stakeholder engagements and report back to Parliament. Therefore, all processes leading to the passage of the PUB have been halted for now.
“Meanwhile, UTAG has been given a copy of the revised version of the PUB for our study and consultation with our members. NEC, therefore, calls on all members of UTAG to remain calm as the consultations go on and would like to assure them that anything contrary to this agreement will incur the displeasure of UTAG.”
One of the worst laws
Meanwhile, a prominent lawyer, Professor Raymond Atuguba, has described the Public Universities Bill as one of the worst laws Ghana could ever have.
“I have had the privilege of drafting or assisting to draft over 300 policies and laws on the African continent in the last two decades, and I can confirm that the PUB is one of the worst laws I have ever encountered. It is just bad, bad, news,” said Atuguba in an opinion piece.
“It is glaringly and patently unconstitutional (so no Parliament or MP has any business passing it into law);
“It seeks to politicise the public universities (can’t we have at least one institution in the country that is not politicised);
“It seeks to establish executive and ministerial micromanagement of public universities, (effectively crippling them); and
“It is very badly drafted in several areas (not the fault of the drafters; they had a horrible policy to work with).”
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