KNUST graduate drags university to CHRAJ over alleged unfair thesis extension fees

A graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has lodged a formal complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), accusing the university’s Graduate School of unfair administrative practices and financial injustice regarding thesis extension fees.

Seidu Tonfique, a graduate student with ID 21026037, is seeking the Commission’s intervention in what he describes as discriminatory treatment in the application of extension fee policies.

According to the petition, Tonfique had fulfilled all requirements for thesis submission and initially paid GHS 600 as the approved extension fee. However, he claims the IT department denied him access to the thesis deposition portal, insisting he pay GHS 4,322.90—equivalent to one-third of the total programme fees—instead.

“This decision comes after some of my colleagues who paid GHS 600 were granted access to the portal, and this happened just two weeks to the submission deadline,” Tonfique stated in his petition. “In the spur of catching up with the deadline, I made a painstaking effort in raising the extra GHS 3,722.90 to beat the deadline.”

The petitioner further revealed that on September 25, 2025, the Director of the School of Graduate Studies announced at a university management retreat that GHS 600 should be the appropriate extension fee, contradicting the earlier directive that required some students to pay the higher amount.

Tonfique contends that the inconsistent application of fees violates Article 17 of the Constitution, which prohibits unjustifiable differential treatment.

“Other students were allowed to pay only GHS 600 as extension fees, while we were compelled to pay GHS 4,322.90 before being allowed to submit our thesis,” he argued.

Through his petition, Tonfique is requesting CHRAJ to investigate what he terms “overpayment of extension fees” and direct KNUST’s Graduate School to refund the excess amount of GHS 3,722.90 to all affected students.

The Commission is yet to respond to the petition at the time of filing this report.