Tension is brewing at the University of Education, Winneba, following a decision by the Chairman of the Governing Council of the University, Nana Ofori Ansah, to terminate the appointment of the Director of Finance.
Members of the University Council say the act by the Council Chair was without the concurrence of the University’s governing council and did not follow what the University’s statute stipulates.
The Council Chair recently apologized to the University’s Governing Council and the Academic Board for taking unilateral decisions to implement the Winneba High Court’s order.
Mr Francis Obeng was appointed in 2019 after going through processes outlined by the University’s search committee.
The dismissal of the Finance Director, has thus, drawn sharp criticisms among the Governing Council members and the university community, who are calling on the President to intervene.
According to the aggrieved council members, the Council Chair alone has no authority to terminate the appointment of the Finance Director without triggering the right processes enshrined in the University’s statute and without consulting them.
“He’s pursuing an agenda that has the propensity to plunge the entire university into chaos,” one council member said.
Another council member indicated: “whenever he comes to the council meeting, he indicates, the Presidency says we should do this, the Attorney-General says we should do that. So how do we run a university like this?”
Before the termination of the appointment of the Finance Director, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mawutor Avoke, had already appointed Dr Theophilus Ackorlie, the former Finance Director of the University who was part of the principal officers the court ordered should be reinstated to their former grade.
Ever since the court’s ruling, there’s been various interpretations of the judge’s instructions when it comes to the principal officers ‘being reinstated to their former grade’ and ‘being reinstated to their former position.’
Members of the University Council are fuming with rage as they say their attempt to ensure a reconciled university is being thwarted by the acts by the Council Chairman of the University.