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Claim: Posts circulating on Facebook allege that the University of Ghana (UG) collected over Ghc11m in graduation fees from graduating students but failed to provide medallions and scroll holders.
Verdict: Misleading! DUBAWA investigations have revealed that the total amount collected as graduation fees does not amount to Ghc 11m. However, the students graduated without a medallion and scroll holders, following the University’s explanation of the delay.
Full Text
Following the recent congregation ceremony at the University of Ghana (UG), a post published on Facebook by Joy News on 17th February 2025 and shared by other social media users here, here and here alleges that the premiere university of the nation received a total of Ghc11m from graduands but failed to provide medallions and scroll holders as expected.
As of Feb. 25, 2025, the post had gathered 1,500 likes, 58 shares, and almost 300 comments.
The issue became a topic of discussion, with concerns raised about the university’s credibility. DUBAWA, therefore, decided to investigate the claim.
Verification
In investigating the claim, DUBAWA sighted a press release by the University denying the 11m cedis claim by the Joy News Facebook report. According to the university, each of the graduating students was made to pay 500.00. If each of the 15,776 graduates pays Ghc500, the expected total should be Ghc7,888,000, not Ghc11m.
The said Ghc500 graduation fees were meant to cover the cost of seven essential services, namely, the rental of a graduation gown set, which includes a cap and a hood, Graduation Medallion, Scroll Holder, University Souvenir, Water and administrative overheads, which they claim to have provided except for the medallion and the scroll holder.
DUBAWA probed further by watching the live stream of the first day of the 18 days of graduation ceremonies on YouTube, where the registrar of UG, Mrs. Emelia Agyei-Mensah, announced that close to 16,000 graduates were graduated within the 18 days, starting with the school of graduate studies.
DUBAWA also contacted the SRC President of the University of Ghana for the 2024/2025 batch, Frank Tsikata, who confirmed that the University truly communicated to students that they had procurement delays that would affect the distribution of medallions and scroll holders as the University claimed.
The graduating students’ batch SRC President for the City Campus, Apusiga Abraham Jacob of the University of Ghana, also confirmed that each student paid only Ghc500 as graduation fees. Below is an image of a student’s receipt proving that the student paid Ghc500 for graduation fees.
Multiplying Ghc500 by 15,776 amounts to 7,888,000, just as the university stated. This shows that the University of Ghana didn’t receive Ghc11 million as claimed.
Conclusion
Having contacted relevant organisations and individuals related to the claim, it is obvious that the University of Ghana didn’t receive Ghc11 million as alleged by the claimant, and even though it was true the graduating students were not provided with medallions and scroll holders, they were pre-informed by the university, they pre-informed by the university.
