There appears to be bad blood between former President Jerry John Rawlings and authorities of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) over the dismissal of some senior staff of the school, including a former Vice Chancellor Professor Mawutor Avoke. The University had been incensed by comments made by Mr Rawlings when he commemorated the 31st December Revolution anniversary in Winneba last year. According to the University, the former president had made his comments from an “ill-informed” position. “Indeed, the ex-President, in similar remarks a couple of months ago, waded into the issue from same ill-informed position and we, through our Public Relations Office, accordingly responded by educating him on the facts regarding the very issue he sought to bring into the public domain,” the university said in a statement issued on Wednesday, January 8. But the Office of Jerry John Rawlings is taking none of that, calling the response by the school “outright lies”. In a press release on Monday, January 20, the Office of JJ Rawlings, among other issues, pointed out that the current Vice Chancellor, Reverend Professor Anthony Afful-Broni, is under investigations from recognized anti-graft bodies such as the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). “We are privy to the allegations and subsequent petitions sent to EOCO, the Special Prosecutor, the Auditor General and the Governing Council by the former acting Finance Officer of UEW, Mr Bruno Chirani (who is also a member of the Governing Council representing Convocation) and same applies to the Former President. These allegations border on financial malfeasance and procurement breaches on the part of Prof Afful-Broni and Surv. Paul Osei Barimah (the Registrar). We are also aware that at least the Auditor General and EOCO are at work on these allegations and have either visited the University or invited some of the officers to their offices, in pursuance of their investigations.” Find the full release below: OFFICE OF H.E JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS’ RESPONSE TO A PRESS STATEMENT BY THE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA ON THE FORMER PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS AT THE 31ST DECEMBER ANNIVERSARY DURBAR IN WINNEBA The office of H.E. Jerry John Rawlings has taken note of the above Press Statement issued by the Management of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), purporting to respond to comments made by His Excellency Flt. Lt. J. J. Rawlings, Former President of Ghana, on the happenings in UEW. The office was of the belief that the Press Statement would provide the office of the Former President, relevant stakeholders, and the reading public with new information on the happenings at UEW. Rather, we have been inundated with a lengthy monologue on the same old misrepresentations of facts and outright lies that have consistently been churned out by the University, since the inception of the impasse. We would have naturally resisted the temptation to respond to this statement, since many discerning members of the public, who have followed the UEW issue, are aware of the manipulation of facts and the resultant injustices meted out to some staff of the University for no justifiable reasons. However, we feel obliged to do so, particularly because of some members of the public who may be new to the UEW issues. We therefore proceed to respond to the aforementioned misrepresentations, inaccuracies and outright lies in the press statement as follows: It is absolutely not true that the Supreme Court, in a purported ruling, affirmed the overriding powers of the Governing Council to make decisions under their enabling Act. No such ruling exists, and we challenge the University to publish the said ruling in its entirety for the public to read for itself. The Supreme Court ruling rather quashed an earlier decision by the High Court in favour of the dismissed staff and against the University. If the University had the good intention of educating the public and the former President as alluded to in their statement, why the pseudo style of covering up the earlier rulings of both the Appeals and Supreme Courts which sided with the dismissed staff?
- It is absolutely untrue that the dismissal of former Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mawutor Avoke, Dr. Theophilus Ackorlie, Ing. Daniel Tetteh, Mr. Frank Boateng, and Ms. Mary Dzimey had nothing to do with any work or report of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) or any other state agency. In actual fact, in an earlier Press Release issued by the University on 7th November, 2017 and signed by the then Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof Emmanuel Nicholas Abakah, the University made it succinctly clear that the reason for asking the said officers to step aside, which eventually led to their dismissal, related to the work of EOCO. Specifically, the second sentence in the first paragraph of that statement states: “We wish to put on record that the recent decision of the Governing Council to request six (6) of our officers to step aside was purely in respect of the on-going investigations by EOCO, BNI and the Governing Council”.
- It is very disingenuous for the University to say that the affected officers masterminded and perpetrated injustice unto themselves, by refusing to appear before the Disciplinary Committee. As stated in (1) above, the setting up of this committee was being challenged in a superior forum of adjudicature, and it is trite knowledge that any law abiding and fair minded person or institution should have waited for the adjudicatory outcome of that case, before going on with its own processes. To the extent that the University did not pursue this course of action, it denied them an opportunity to be heard, sinning against the rules of natural justice, resulting in the injustice perpetrated by the University on the affected officers.
- There is no gainsaying the fact that the Governing Council of the University is the highest decision-making body in the institution, however, its powers and functions are to be exercised within the bounds of the Constitution of Ghana. Article 23 of our constitution states: “Administrative bodies and administrative officials shall act fairly and reasonably and comply with the requirements imposed on them by law and persons aggrieved by the exercise of such acts and decisions have the right to seek redress before a court or other tribunal”. Thus, the powers and decisions of the Governing Council are not absolute, in so far as they are subject to judicial review.
- It is NOT true that Prof Avoke, or any of the dismissed staff, has ever challenged their dismissal in the Supreme Court. We challenge the University to make such applications and their corresponding rulings available to the public. The only forum that the affected staff have ever challenged the dismissal is the High Court. The affected officers, being dissatisfied with the ruling given by the High Court, have mounted an appeal at the Appeals Court in Civil Appeal No. E10/04/18. This means that whatever affirmation the university is talking of is not conclusive yet. In any case, the matters sent to the Supreme Court by the affected officers have nothing to do with their dismissal.
- In his Speech on 31st December 2019, the Former President alluded to the injustices meted out to the affected officers and not the fact of their having been asked to step aside, which was the subject of the case before the Cape Coast High Court. As for the choice of the forum for judicial adjudication, the rules are very clear on that, and in so far as the rules permitted the applicants to choose the Cape Coast High Court, it is disingenuous for the University to allude to that in the press statement. All that the Former President wanted to convey is that just as Prof. Avoke and others were told to step aside for allegedly committing various offences, the current leadership of the university, who are now similarly situated, with various allegations of criminality hanging over their heads, must also be asked to step aside. A member of the Governing Council Mr. Bruno Bajuaose Chirani, who doubles as Acting Finance officer of the University under the current leadership, has petitioned the Governing Council and Security and Anti-graft Agencies to investigate the current Vice-Chancellor Rev. Prof. Afful Broni in a letter dated 2nd September, 2019. Details are in the public domain for your reference. So, what then is the benchmark for administrative justice in your University in these circumstances? Why should a petition from an acting finance officer responsible for the day to day financial operation of the university, bothering on malfeasance and gross financial misconduct be thrown to the trash can?
- It is interesting how the University is seeking to misrepresent the ruling given by the Cape Coast High Court on the 11th of November, 2019 as a landmark ruling. It is absolutely disingenuous in the legal realm to say that a ruling of a High Court brings authoritative finality to a matter. Especially so, when the said ruling is now the subject matter of an appeal mentioned in (4) above. Litigation can only finally end at the Supreme Court. It was for this reason that the earlier High Court rulings on the UEW impasse were overturned and quashed by the Appeals Court and Supreme Court.
- Has Former President Rawlings become the latest advocate of an unworthy cause? We state that the Former President is neither sleeping nor slumbering, for him to be hoodwinked into championing an unworthy course. It important to note that the Former President is not only a statesman but a pioneer of the development of that University, and has the right to independently verify developments that have the potential to undermine the integrity and sustainability of the solid footing upon which the University was established.
- It is absolutely untrue and disingenuous to state that the current Vice Chancellor, Prof Anthony Afful-Broni is not under any form of investigation. We are privy to the allegations and subsequent petitions sent to EOCO, the Special Prosecutor, the Auditor General and the Governing Council by the former acting Finance Officer of UEW, Mr Bruno Chirani (who is also a member of the Governing Council representing Convocation) and same applies to the Former President. These allegations border on financial malfeasance and procurement breaches on the part of Prof Afful-Broni and Surv. Paul Osei Barimah (the Registrar). We are also aware that at least the Auditor General and EOCO are at work on these allegations and have either visited the University or invited some of the officers to their offices, in pursuance of their investigations. At the time Prof Avoke and the five other senior officers were asked to step aside, as indicated in the Press Release alluded to in (1) above, no disciplinary action had been initiated against them by the Governing Council to warrant their stepping aside, yet they were asked to do so. It is in this same vein that the Former President asked the Governing Council to request Prof Afful-Broni to also aside, as a mark of fairness.
- The University says it was going to provide us with “additional information on some very important activities engaged in by the affected staff including Prof. Mawutor Avoke and which activities by themselves indict their cause”, yet either refused or forgot to provide us with such information. There is no additional information out there that indict the cause of the affected officers just as the allegations against them did not.
- In March 2019, in accordance with our Statutes and following due process, three Lecturers were dismissed by the University for various acts that constituted gross misconduct. What exactly did they do that constituted gross misconduct? Was it for electing to depose to an application challenging the order of the Governing Council for the affected officers to step aside, or for stepping out of the Council chamber during a Council meeting? Are these the acts that constituted gross misconduct?
- Publish the earlier Court of Appeal and Supreme Court rulings that quashed the earlier decisions of the High Court.
- Publish the appointment letter of Prof. Mawutor Avoke and the terms therein for your intended education of the public.
- Re-Publish your Press Release of 7th November, 2017 which announced the decision of the Governing Council to interdict Prof Avoke and others – a position which contradicts your latest pronouncement.
- Publish the EOCO Report.