UEW authorities acted within the law – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has commended authorities at the University of Education, Winneba for the role they played during the trying times at the university.

According to him, the authorities worked within the confines of the law to restore normalcy at the school which was climaxed with the induction into office of a new Vice Chancellor.

Nana Akufo Addo was the guest of honour on Monday at the investiture of Reverend Professor Anthony Afful-Broni as the new Vice Chancellor of the University following the removal of the previous one, Professor Mawutor Avoke, from office.

Ahead of the induction ceremony, law lecturer, Professor Raymond Atuguba said the process was illegal due to a suit currently before the Supreme Court challenging the removal of Professor Mawutor Avoke.

Despite internal wrangling in the school, President Akufo-Addo commended the authorities for their action.

“This ceremony is taking place on the heels of recent happenings on this campus which disturbs us all. It is worth noting however, that the stakeholders have acted within the confines of the law to ensure that the university has a substantive leadership in place to help it achieve the goals for which it was established. To all those diverse efforts helped in restoring normalcy to UEW, you have the appreciation of a grateful nation,” he added.

Background

Former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mawutor Avoke, together with six other Principal Officers of the University, were removed by the Governing Council in August 2018.

They were interdicted in July 2017 by the UEW governing council to allow for investigation after it emerged that some vital documents at some offices at the centre of an ongoing investigation had gone missing.

Subsequently, in January 2018, lawyers of the five wrote to the University Council, demanding their immediate reinstatement.

A Winneba High Court in 2017 ordered Professor Mawutor Avoke, to step aside until a case brought against him and the University’s Governing Council is determined.

The order was made in a case brought before the court by one Supi Kofi Kwayera, who insisted that the Vice Chancellor and the Finance Officer, were operating under the institution’s defunct governing council.

The plaintiff adduced that the University’s Council’s mandate had expired in November 2013, but the Education Ministry failed to constitute a new Governing Council for the university, and rather allowed and permitted the defunct Governing Council which had no mandate whatsoever to continue the functions of a properly constituted Governing Council as if same had been properly constituted.

This, Mr. Kwayera insisted was unlawful, and hence his legal action against the University of Education, Winneba.

However, before the substantive claims were looked into, the University, through its lawyers, applied to the court to dismiss the suit on the three counts, but the application was dismissed.

The High Court subsequently found Professor Avoke, and the school’s Finance Officer, Dr. Theopholus Senyo Ackorlie, guilty of procurement and other financial irregularities.

The court subsequently ordered the retrieval of all monies paid to the contractors of the North Campus Roads and a forensic audit of the project.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana