President J.A. Kufuor has expressed worry about news of financial malfeasance at the University for Development Studies (UDS).

"I must confess that whenever my attention is drawn to reports of financial malfeasance in this university, my heart jumps," he stated.

He said "a deprived institution such as UDS should not be reckless in the use of its meagre resources" and challenged the university council and management to institute mechanisms to recover monies undeservedly received by any officials.

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf by the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, at the university's ninth Congregation at Tamale.

It was reported that the former Vice-Chancellor and some other officials had embezzled billions of cedis belonging to the University.

President Kufuor condemned such financial malpractices at the university and reaffirmed the government's readiness to deal with corrupt public officers.

He enumerated the many challenges of the UDS and spoke of plans by the Ministry of Finance to support it.

President Kufuor said the government found it extremely impossible to ignore the demands and needs of the UDS and would do everything possible to address the problems.

He said the development of the medical school in Tamale was central to government's plan to develop the northern sector, and added that government would explore protocols for clinical training in the DDS medical programmes.

The acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kaku Sagary Nokoe, stated that UDS chalked significant academic achievements in the recent years and called on its stakeholder to help achieve more excellent results.

In all, over 1,000 students were presented with various degrees.