UEW AMONG NAMES IN THE BAD RECORD BOOKS

University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has been in the news of late for all the wrong reasons. What began as mere power game has escalated into full-blown chaos. This article seeks to shed light on some aspects of the situation, specifically the plot to remove Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Mawutor Avoke.
Prior to the appointment of Professor Avoke as VC of University of Education, Winneba in 2015, a constant objection raised by some individuals against him was that he was a Voltarian. Indeed stories were circulated against his candidature on the ground that there were already too many Voltarians working in the university. Therefore, to appoint Professor Avoke VC was to make UEW a Volta university. The story made the rounds on social media and in their ‘rented press’ for a while, but eventually people got tired of it.
However, it did not stop there. The bigots gave a strong indication that they would do everything to prevent a Voltarian from becoming VC of UEW. They thus called on some prominent individuals including the Central Regional House of Chiefs to support their bid to get their preferred candidate, Professor Anthony Afful-Broni, to the VC position. Thankfully, the chiefs spurned the bigotry advances and treated them with the contempt that they deserved.
Professor Mawutor Avoke was subsequently appointed VC of UEW. At the investiture on November 6, 2015, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the then Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, while speaking on behalf of Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman (Minister of Education), lamented the ethnic divisiveness at UEW. He further warned that there should be no such situation where ethnic identity was a consideration for selecting university Vice Chancellors. He said, “the VC of UMaT must not necessarily be a native of Western Region. Nor must VCs of KNUST and UHAS be Ashanti and Voltarian respectively.” The Deputy Minister, in light of the outrageously bigoted comments that heralded Professor Avoke’s appointment was compelled to make those remarks. One would have thought these sufficient to put the ethnic bigotry at rest but that was never to be.
On May 23, 2017, an indigene of Winneba, Supi Kwayera (an obvious pawn in the bigots’ game), dragged UEW to the Winneba High Court. He sought some reliefs against the university, in a legal tussle which lasted for over six months. During the intervening months, Professor Mawutor Avoke and Dr. Theophilus Ackorlie were prohibited by the court from carrying out their duties as Vice Chancellor and Finance Officer respectively. Later on, the plaintiff withdrew some of the reliefs including those bordering on procurement processes. Eventually, on December 14, 2017, the court ruled that Vice Chancellor, Professor Mawutor Avoke and Finance Officer, Dr. Theophilus Ackorlie were guilty of procurement and other financial irregularities.
It is bizarrely incongruous with reason, to say the least, that an institution was dragged to court but in the end two individuals, who were never asked to appear in court or even allowed to join the case, were found guilty in a case in which the reliefs were no longer being sought by the plaintiff. This sequence of events begs equally substantial questions. Why cannot a Voltarian be VC in UEW? Are Voltarians not human beings? Are Voltarians not as good as any Ghanaian? Do accused persons no longer have the right to respond to allegations leveled against them during a hearing? Is that not the requirement of natural justice? Were Professor Mawutor Avoke and Dr. Theophilus Ackorlie given a single opportunity to state their case? Can it then be said that a fair procedure had been followed in this trial? Your guess is as good as mine! It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the Supreme Court, on Wednesday, December 20, 2017, overturned the ruling of the Winneba High Court against Professor Mawutor Avoke and Dr. Theophilus Ackorlie.
Article 17 (2) of the 1992 constitution of Ghana states that, “a person shall not be discriminated against on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status.” Therefore, in our every step as citizens, we should be guided by an overriding concern for the rights of others. Our political, ethnic or religious ideologies should not at any time cloud our moral convictions. It is unjust to harm others or infringe on their rights to secure power and wealth for our own comfort.