The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has called on the Vice Chancellor and theChairman of the Governing Council of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) to resign immediately.
The association alleged that the Vice Chancellor, Professor Anthony Afful-Broni and Prof. Emmanuel Nicholas Abakah, chairman of the Governing Council had engaged in various acts of financial malfeasance of GH¢5.7 million and also breached regulations governing the administration of the university.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Dr Eric Opoku Mensah, National UTAG President called for the immediate reinstatement of all lecturers and other staff who were dismissed few weeks ago.
The UTAG also appealed to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the conflict of interest allegation made against Prof. Abakah.
Dr Mensah accused Prof. Abakah of using his position as chairman to engineer a retroactive application of a statutory provision, which was not applied to him when in active service to gain promotion.
“It is eye opening to observe that Prof. Abakah failed statute wise, to gain promotion under a previous administration, but under the administration of his protégé, Prof. Afful-Broni, under a Governing Council that he Prof . Abakah chairs, that the rules were tinkered to enable him to be promoted with retrospective effect even after five years of his retirement,” he noted.
He asked Prof. Afful-Broni to resign for his vindictive attitude and failure to reconcile crises in the university.
The UTAG boss observed that Prof. Abakah failed to provide guidance and proper counsel to the entire Governing Council and the management of UEW.
He noted that their conduct could deepen a new culture of fear and silence on the university campus.
Dr Mensah stated that lecturers were to be loyal to the Vice Chancellor and failure to do so would lead to their victimisation saying “the university is not a place to build a cult or a sect where fellowship is a necessity.”
He noted that Prof. Afful-Broni was known to have exhibited vindictive tendencies through a warped application of his oversight powers by stripping appointments off people who were deemed to be sympathisers of the former vice chancellor of UEW.
In addition, he said appointments were given to people perceived to be loyal to Prof. Afful-Broni even though some of them were of lower rank.
He indicated that Prof. Abakah benefitted in a pecuniary fashion because his promotion was backdated to December19, 2013 hence, gained from back pay calculated from December 2013.
“If this decision did not border on conflict of interest , gross corruption, wanton dissipation of public funds and bending rules to suit one’s self because one is in power, then we do not know what else conflict of interest is,” he added.
Dr Mensah said Prof. Abakah should have declined acceptance to the position of Council Chairman due to the existence of a potential conflict of interest which had clearly been actualised.
“His biases, dislike and retributive vengeance have all contributed immensely to the crises we find in UEW today,” he stated.
BY ABEDUWAA LUCY APPIAH
