The VC of UEW has been forced to vacate his post over some alleged illegalities in his appointment
In part I, the issue of some illegal appointments made by the VC on injunction 'leave', that have duly been revoked by the Acting VC; the case of the NDC card bearing member, dumped on UEW, (currently Principal of the Ajumaku campus of UEW) as a result of a catastrophic failure on his part to run the affairs of the Upper East Region, as a Regional Minister, were looked at among a host of others.
The argument by Victor K. Owusu in one of his articles that known NDC members holding key positions at UEW are having their appointments revoked by the Acting VC, is malice at its best. A sacked Regional Minister in the Mills administration, is still holding office as Principal of Ajumaku campus. Only illegal appointments made by the 'outgone' VC, have been revoked.
These appointments were fraught with procedural irregularities.
The issues at stake appears to be getting murkier as the saga of UEW unfolds.
Even, the legal basis of the initial 3% bonus of returns on investments, awarded to some Principal Officers of UEW to share, is doubtful. So far, documents chanced upon, hasn't proved an approval of such payments by the previous council.
The usual unilateral actions of one selfish individual, might be the force behind that create, loot and share 3%, then later increased to 5%. All these facts in issue, would be put to rest come October, 9th, 10th, and 11th, 2017, when the substantive case is heard at the Winneba High Court.
UEW UTAG, in a statement issued at the beginning of this week, claimed that, the 'outgone' VC has done nothing wrong, and therefore, the injunction was fundamentally and fatally flawed. UEW UTAG, as a matter of fact, is now a 'kangaroo court', to determine the legality or otherwise of an injunction. In previous ignorance of the position of the law statements, UTAG claimed that, the court has no jurisdiction to place the injunction on the 2 Principal Officers (UTAG National President). This is easy to say. UTAG will do itself a lot of damage limitation to its battered image, by quoting any relevant law in Ghana, to support its claim that, the High Court has no jurisdiction to place the injunction on the 2 officials of UEW. Quote the law, and put people like me to shame!
Let it be made vividly clear to some people in leadership positions, who are blindly supporting a certain course that, the High Court, has jurisdiction to even place an injunction on a Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), and even the President of the Republic, so far as the applicant is in a position to prove to the High Court, the urgency of either stopping the person in their tracks (i.e., stopping someone from further looting of state funds or tampering with evidential documents), or compelling them to do something, and satisfying other financial requirements. So, what is a VC or Finance Officer (FO), in the eyes of the High Court?
If UTAG and their paymasters have an honest believe that the injunction was an "academic coup d'etat", then go back to court with evidence that the injunction was granted based on factual inaccuracies supplied to the court by the claimant and his lawyer. There is absolutely no need to issue shameful threats of declaring a nationwide strike. This posture is unintellectual!
I believe UTAG have the evidence to support its claim of the 'outgone' VC not having done anything wrong to warrant the injunction being placed on him. So the next step, is to get Dr. Raymond Atuguba again, who will, am sure, offer his services free of charge, like he did in the UTAG failed joinder application, to have another go again, this time, as part of a reinforced legal team of UEW.
UEW UTAG, in one of its text messages sent before the joinder application was filed, described him as one of the best in the legal profession, and I have no doubt about that. Let's get him onboard!
A strike action because of a court decision? UTAG has made itself a laughing stock in the eyes of discerning people around the world.
In the words of the UEW UTAG President, Dr. Samuel Ofori Bekoe, that, the Vice Chancellor has done nothing wrong in the circumstance to warrant the injunction being placed on him. If you had no evidence to back this claim, you wouldn't be making it, so let's head to court and submit that incontrovertible evidence you are privy to, to the judge! This is not Rocket Science!
Apart from going to court to argue with the evidence the UEW UTAG President holds, even a 'worldwide' strike action by UTAG, will have no potency to vary the High Court's decision regarding the injunction. For the courts to succumb to threats of strike and strike actions and vary their decisions to please somewhat mentally unstable radical trade unions leaderships, will be a clear attack on Judicial Independence, and for that matter, a coup d'etat by the trade union against the courts!
By Alhassan Salifu Bawah
(Son of a peasant farmer)