Fmr UEW VC calls for end to impasse

Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Professor Mawutor Avoke, has called on all stakeholders of the University to come together to resolve the growing impasse that threatens academic work and sanity at the institution.

He explained that current happenings at UEW, which borders on problems of governance and conflicts, would continue if the University’s role as a place for freedom of thoughts and impact action of knowledge was curtailed.

To this end, he urged for conscientious efforts to protect UEW from all sorts of malicious and political maneuvering from individuals which poses threats to academics.

Professor Avoke was addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday on events resulting in his dismissal alongside five other senior officers from the university in August last year.

Revealing his intention to be part of the process to unite the university, he called for reinstatement of dismissed officers including himself as vice chancellor and an end to wrongful dismissal of staff on trumped up charges.

“The dismissals are a waste and loss of human capital to the nation. These same staff were trained abroad and in Ghana at the expense of the tax payer. Some of them have spent their entire working lives building the UEW to make it attractive for many academics to work today. these greatest injustices must stop,” he explained.

Explaining his side of the impasse, Professor Avoke said it was unfortunate that he and the other dismissed officers were yet to be reinstated by the Governing Council of UEW, chaired by Professor Emmanuel Nicholas Abakah, after investigations by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) proved the allegations against them to be untrue.

He said although Prof. Abakah had made various statements accusing him of impropriety and malfeasance, no evidence has of yet been provided to substantiate the allegations.

Similarly, even though the report of the three-member fact finding committee established by the Council to investigate allegations of procurement breaches did not indict the former Vice Chancellor and the five other senior officers, Professor Abakah took the decision to indict them, he said.

Professor Avoke accused the Governing Council Chairman of scheming with the current Vice Chancellor, Reverend Professor Anthony Afful-Broni to remove him from office through illegal means.

The appointment of Professor Afful-Broni as Vice Chancellor and subsequently a member of the University Governing Council, he said, was in complete breach of the UEW Acts and Statutes.

“Professor Abakah admitted Prof. Afful-Broni as a member of the Council and allowed him to participate when there was no instrument of appointment from the President of the Republic as stipulated by UEW’s enabling act (Act 672).”

“Later in December 2017, Prof. Abakah read out what he referred to as thesis to members of Council and informed them about a need to re-appoint Prof. Afful-Broni as Acting Vice Chancellor. This appointment was done outside the provisions of the Act and Statutes of UEW and thus was in a bad taste,” he added.

Professor Avoke noted that he and the other dismissed senior officers would announce their next action including initiating court action if the Council failed to reinstate them in their respective roles at the University.

BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS