Students at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Tarkwa are demanding a detailed explanation of a GH¢2,793,096.80 Students’ Representative Council (SRC) budget for one semester, after scrutiny found apparent errors in its technology spending.
SRC Treasurer Nana Kofi Armoo Quansah presented the first-semester budget to the SRC Parliament on Sunday, November 8. The total is more than twice the previous administration’s budget, prompting widespread criticism on X, where some posts attracted tens of thousands of views.
A 3News review of the app allocation found that the GH¢201,492.50 provision treats Apple’s annual developer charge as a monthly cost and multiplies Google’s one-off registration fee by 12.
“As students, we have every right to ask questions,” one student wrote on X on Monday. “Where exactly is all this money going?”
The same post questioned why new students could not “even enjoy an Artiste Night” despite the size of the budget. Concerns about the lack of a freshers’ welcome event were repeated in several replies.
SRC President Listowell Apochi Boade told the House on Saturday that his administration had inherited an account balance of GH¢124.96. A post comparing that figure with the new budget had been viewed more than 24,000 times by Tuesday, while another, liked more than 800 times, compared UMaT’s spending with the SRC budget at KNUST.
Students also questioned GH¢218,350 allocated for lovers’ benches and summer huts while raising concerns about hostel fees, water supply and campus Wi-Fi. Some replies alleged theft without providing evidence.
A small number of students defended Boade. “This propaganda must stop. He wants the best for the school,” one wrote. The campus account UMaT Tweeps held a Twitter Space about the budget on Monday night.
Spending and debts under scrutiny
Boade said the budget was a plan rather than proof that the money had already been spent.
“A budget is a financial roadmap of intentions, priorities and proposed commitments, not evidence of money already spent,” he wrote on X.
However, documents shared by students list GH¢257,705 as “pre-financed”. That includes GH¢173,170 for servicing printing and projection equipment, including GH¢101,970 for LED projectors, receiving cards and 8,000-watt power stabilisers.
A further GH¢84,535 was pre-financed for freshers’ reception, covering 150 Lacoste shirts, 150 caps, GH¢28,350 in refreshments over nine days, and canopies, tables and chairs. UMaT Today reported another GH¢20,000 pre-financed for the interiors of five executive rooms, taking the total to at least GH¢277,705.
The documents do not identify who provided the money or explain how it will be repaid. Students have questioned how the spending was financed given the stated opening balance of GH¢124.96.
Boade also listed GH¢409,165.86 in inherited debts: GH¢191,900 for administrative costs from the previous SRC elections and GH¢217,265.86 for the FIMS summer hut project.
The previous treasurer, Enock Atitsogbey, disputed the opening balance. An X account identifying itself as the 2025/2026 SRC Treasurer posted: “Nobody left 124 cedis. Ask him how much retention fund we left behind?”
The previous administration’s own first-semester budget was reduced from GH¢1,413,790 to GH¢1,311,475 four days after it was presented in March following protests, UMaT Today reported.
Questions over app pricing
The app table lists seven running costs as monthly amounts multiplied by 12. The dollar figures were converted at about GH¢11.62, close to the Bank of Ghana interbank rate of GH¢11.63 on November 2.
The budget assigns Apple US$150 a month, or GH¢20,916 a year, although the Apple Developer Program costs US$99 annually, approximately GH¢1,150, and is waived for accredited educational institutions.
It also assigns Google US$50 a month, or GH¢6,972 a year, despite Google Play charging a one-time US$25 registration fee, approximately GH¢290.
Cloudflare is priced at US$90 a month, or GH¢12,552 annually, although its free plan includes CDN, DDoS protection and firewall services, with paid plans starting at US$20 a month.
After adding the budget’s 10% miscellaneous charge, correcting those three entries would reduce the amount by between GH¢39,800 and GH¢42,900 about one-fifth of the app allocation.
The table also includes US$175 a month for storage and US$60 for email, without usage information to assess those figures. It budgets 12 months of running costs for a single semester and includes GH¢94,627 for the design, development and testing of an app the SRC said in October was nearly complete.
The budget does not state who is developing the app, how the cost was calculated or how much has already been paid. The SRC has not publicly addressed either the app pricing or the pre-financing.
Other allocations include GH¢200,000 for the SRC Hall Commission, GH¢111,740 for the SRC office and five executive rooms, GH¢82,170 for sports and campus competitions, GH¢68,750 for UMaT’s delegation to the 59th NUGS conference, GH¢65,141 for a leadership summit and financial literacy programmes, and GH¢33,000 for the State of the SRC programme.
Of the GH¢218,350 for recreational facilities, GH¢81,950 is allocated to lovers’ benches and GH¢136,400 to summer huts at the SPETS and Mathematics departments.
Boade said the SRC welcomed scrutiny and remained committed to transparency and accountability. “Ultimately, our responsibility is not to win arguments on social media, but to deliver results for the students we represent,” he wrote.
His plans include paying GH¢200 of the GH¢400 resit fee for 500 students, providing three water stations and supplying motorcycles for a student-run SRC delivery service.
It is unclear whether the SRC Parliament has approved the budget. 3News has seen only parts of the full document. UMaT’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bernard Kumi-Boateng, made student welfare a priority when he took office in August, but 3News found no public comment from the university on the budget.
Student charges have caused disputes elsewhere, with University of Ghana management saying in January that SRC and GRASAG charges contributed to a fee increase.
