UTAG members at the University of Education Winneba (UEW), have condemned their local president for teaming up with the sacked vice chancellor, Prof Mawutor Avoke, to attempt to oust the vice chancellor of the university, Prof. Afful Broni. According to them, statements made by their local president Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku in support of Prof Avoke’s action represent the former’s “personal parochial views…and does not arise form a majority or consensus decision of the entire UEWUTAG members”. Prof Avoke and six other officers who were sacked over alleged financial impropriety and procurement breaches stormed the university administration Tuesday seeking to take back their respective positions. The allegations against them formed the basis for their removal from office a year ago and they have since been exploring legal avenues to get themselves reinstated. Justifying their decision to return to take over their positions, Prof Avoke said EOCO’s investigations into the allegations found anything against them. According to him, the investigations “concluded in black and white that we did not abuse our offices or are we in violation of procurement processes. Dr. Kaakyire Duku who rallied support for the embattled senior staff, explained that once Prof Avoke’s tenure as VC did not elapsed, he has every right to come back as vice chancellor, stating Afful Broni was put in place as a “caretaker vice chancellor”. But the action of Dr Duku has been condemned by the members of the UTAG at UEW in a statement issued Wednesday. “This behaviour by Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku reinforces the fact that Council’s earlier decision to dismiss him for acts of gross misconduct was well thought-out and deservedly applied,” the statement signed by Eric Nketiah stated. For the UTAG members, Dr Duku should have ensured an important decision to remove a sitting Vice-Chancellor “or that seeks to support a rehearsed-gatecrashing reinstatement of a former Vice-Chancellor should have been taken at a well organised General Meeting of the entire UTAG-UEW members”. For the UEW UTAG members, their support is for Prof Afful-Broni, who they said is the legally recognised vice chancellor for the university. “His term of office runs through September, 2021 and we urge him to continue performing his legally-sanctioned administrative and management duties in the interest of UEW and should not be distracted by such acts of high level recklessness”. Click here to read the full statement By 3news.com|Ghana]]>
