UG'S PROCUREMENT PROCESS UNDER SCRUTINY: STAKEHOLDERS RAISE CONCERNS OVER MEDALS AND SCROLL SAGA.

UG'S PROCUREMENT PROCESS UNDER SCRUTINY: STAKEHOLDERS RAISE CONCERNS OVER MEDALS AND SCROLL SAGA.

Confusion, debate, and pains continue to be among the latest graduands from the University of Ghana over failure of the authorities to provide the graduates with medals and scrolls.  Graduation ceremonies commenced on February 11, with over 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students receiving their degrees in 17 separate sessions over the last two weeks.  However, the graduates received their degrees without their medals and scroll holders (which they have paid for) due to last-minute procurement setbacks.

According to a highly placed source within the university’s procurement office, the decision to provide medals and scrolls for graduation ceremonies was made as far back as July 2024. To execute this, the university initiated a procurement process to acquire about 50,000 pieces each of medals and scroll holders. However, what followed was a series of questionable decisions and bureaucratic inefficiencies that ultimately led to the university's inability to deliver on its promise.

Given the limited time between July 2024 and February, experts within the university suggested using a single-source procurement method to fast-track the process. This approach was, however, opposed by some university officials who raised concerns about transparency.  The alternative, national competitive tendering, was also ruled out due to time constraints, leading the university to settle on restricted tendering.

Restricted tendering is designed to ensure a fair and competitive selection process. The university however failed to undertake proper prequalification of vendors. Instead of thoroughly vetting the potential suppliers, officials reportedly handpicked their cronies. Ironically, this negated the argument against single sourcing, as the same issues of favouritism surfaced in the final selection process.

The evaluation process for selecting a vendor then became another point of contention. Some officials prioritized cost over performance and pushed to get the contract awarded to the vendor with the lowest price despite strong objections from some other officials. The major concern was that the winning bidder would not be able to deliver part of the order by airfreight as required. We were told that the university gave two weeks' timeline for delivery of the consignment when they knew the items were to be made in China. Given the limited time and cheap price offer, it was just impractical for the vendor to be able to afford the high air shipment costs. 

Internal source reveals that the selected vendor has a history of failing to deliver on contracts. In January 2025, the same vendor failed to supply souvenirs for Akenten Appiah Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) graduation ceremony. As of February 2025, the same vendor has not delivered diaries to the University of Cape Coast, despite a December 2024 delivery deadline. We are told the vendor secured these contracts from the two universities by offering the lowest price just as they did with the University of Ghana only to later fail in meeting their obligations. Had the University of Ghana conducted a proper background check, it would have discovered the vendor’s poor track record long before awarding the contract. However, due diligence was reportedly done only after the university realized the vendor was failing to meet its obligations. By then, it was too late.

The result was that graduates were left without their medals and scroll holders, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and the current public relations crisis the university is scrambling to control.  This incident raises serious questions about the University of Ghana’s procurement processes and decision-making. If the university had prioritized reliability over cost-cutting, this embarrassment could have been avoided.

As the dust settles, stakeholders will be looking for accountability as to who made the final decision to award the contract to an underperforming vendor, and what steps will be taken to ensure that such procurement blunders do not recur in future graduation ceremonies. In the meantime, the bigger question is: Will the university refund the medals and scrolls component of the graduation fees to students instead of asking them to spend extra money to come for them at a later date?

Source: Alrich24newsgh.blogspot.com