UNIVERSITY OF GHANA v. NDK FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD. & ORS

INTRODUCTION

Section 24(3) of the University of Ghana Act of 2010, (Act 806) states: - “For the avoidance of doubt, moneys received by or standing to the credit of an establishment of the University shall form part of the funds of the University as defined under this Act.” So, can the School of Public Health having been established as a division under the University of Ghana Act have a separate legal personality that can sue to recover any money standing to the credit of the division known as School of Public Health or it is the University that have the legal capacity or mandate to do so? The answer to this question is what would help resolve the dispute between the parties in this suit.

A division of the University of Ghana known as the School of Public Health caused its funds to be invested in the 1st Defendant Company. The School of Public Health subsequently requested that the said sum be disinvested and for the moneys to be paid it since 2018 but till date the 1st Defendant refused to do so with the excuse that the University of Ghana, the Plaintiff herein did not have the capacity to sue the Defendants as the investment was made by the division known as School of Public Health and not the entity established under the Act 806, being the Plaintiff. Meanwhile the 1st Defendant has not made any effort to pay the said investment to the School of Public Health.

SUMMARY OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE

The Plaintiff through one of its divisions, the School of Public Health sometime in 2016 entered into an investment contract with the 1st Defendant and made a Fixed Deposit investment of GHS1,000,000.00 at the agreed rate of 28% per annum to be rolled over upon maturity unless an express demand is made for 1st Defendant to disinvest and the funds paid to it. The Plaintiff averred that due to changes in its internal policies on investments coupled with its needs to utilize the said funds for its operations, in its letter of 29th October, 2018 wrote to 1st Defendant to disinvest the said funds by 6th November, 2018. According to the Plaintiff the 1st Defendant failed to do so and rather rolled the said investment over without Plaintiff’s authorization and upon persistent demands the 1st Defendant paid a paltry sum of GHS100,000.00 to Plaintiff’s Ecobank Account leaving the balance unpaid.

It is the case of the Plaintiff that to its surprise instead of paying up, 1st Defendant wrote to Plaintiff to inform it that the investment had been unilaterally rolle