Supreme Court of Ghana
In an incoherent and disjointed article by a certain Victor K. Owusu, who claims to be an alumni of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), which is doubtful, because an alumni or anyone claiming to have UEW at heart, would commend the current governing council (council), for having taken the right steps to ratify all certificates, diplomas and degrees, and now in the process of ratifying all appointments and promotions undertaken by the previous corrupt and inept council.
If that council was not corrupt and openly on a create, loot and share warpath, why approve a 3% bonus on investments return for some Principal Officers of UEW to share? The Principal Officers are fiduciaries, and therefore, need no further motivation to invest UEW funds, prudently!
The last percentage of a return on investments the looting brigade bolted with before the injunction came into force, was 5%. If the Mahama corrupt Council approved 3%, then who increased it from 3% to the 5%? It must be noted that all public universities councils, were dissolved as from the 7th of January, 2017. Therefore, UEW had no Council at the time the 2% increment was made.
The answers are not required on this medium, but in a court of competent jurisdiction. The beneficiaries of that daylight robbery will then be required to produce legal backing for all their actions or inactions, and even those on retirement, are not exempted!
I may be publishing falsehood so you see why the case cannot be taken out of court for an amicable settlement?
Alleged criminal wrongdoing, like awarding contracts above a certain threshold without due regard to the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), as amended, cannot be settled out of court, period!
Certain appointments made by the VC on injunction vacation, have been revoked by the Acting VC. It is law that is being analysed here, not empty brains, spewing out garbage that even Zoomlion, will politely decline to cart away.
All vacant positions of Deans and Vice Deans, ought to be advertised, followed by receipt of applications, interviews and appointments. If this so-called alumnus, parading as Victor K. Owusu, feels that his rights or any other person's fundamental human rights have been violated by a wrongful termination of appointment, and who claims to be passionate about UEW, and other like-minded individuals, such as the UEW UTAG executives (beneficiaries of the illegal appointments), should take the matter to court, and produce evidence (provisions of the 1992 Constitution, Act 672 and other relevant laws), to back their claims.
You don't sit at SEMSA and grant lame interviews and disgraceful press releases. Go to court and assert your rights over your truncated juicy appointments, which at best, could be described as 'bribery' to tow a certain line, which is being displayed to the disgrace of a section of the academia.
Let me drum this like a nail into the coconut-like things on the necks of these guys who have no shame whatsoever. It is on record that, a certain Professor was Acting as the Principal of the UEW Ajumaku campus before the current one took office. The Acting Principal was due some responsibility allowance, which was not being paid.
He made enquiries as to why this was not being paid, and the answer he got from the 'insane' individual, who erroneously believed that UEW was a property he inherited from his ancestors, was that, if one is entitled to an allowance doesn't mean that, you should be paid it.
Just because of this enquiry, the 'deluded owner' of UEW, advertised the position of Principal for the Ajumaku campus of UEW, and the current Principal was successful. The current Principal of the Ajumaku campus is a known NDC card bearing member, having been dismissed earlier by the late President Mills as Upper East Regional Minister.
This Principal in question blatantly failed to show up when President Nana Akufu-Ado graced UEW on Saturday the 29th of July 2017, for the second session of the 21st congregation. You know the reason why that Professor who has no respect for authority is still keeping his job? It is because his appointment followed the due process as laid down by UEW statutes. I put it that he has no respect for authority because, if he had respect for authority, President Mills wouldn't have discarded him to the dustbin of UEW.
Court decisions are not always pleasant, however, we must learn to accept those decisions. The President, Nana Akufu-Ado, stated this at UEW among several others, on the 29th of July, 2017. Probably, the UTAG executives and those who congregate under the same proximity with them were the ones Ex President Mahama, described as having short memories.
Let's go down memory lane. The 2012 disputed Presidential election petition, was one such decision of a court, that was highly unpleasant to the current President, and his supporters, but he accepted it and accordingly called on his supporters to do likewise. He could have asked the Supreme Court for a review (we don't appeal to the Supreme Court on its own judgement) or called his supporters onto the streets to make the nation ungovernable, but he did none of these.
He rather accepted the unpleasant decision of the court, wholeheartedly!
Victor K. Owusu, UTAG and their associates, have every legal right to go to court and challenge the revoked illegal appointments of the following: the UEW UTAG President as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; the UEW UTAG Vice President as the Vice Dean of the School of Creative Arts; the UEW UTAG Secretary as the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Communication, etc.
If you are an intellectual and knows your books, you go to court like Supi (an akpetishie seller) to assert your rights, and not use the media to issue illegal threats to government.
It was a court that granted the injunction, and NOT, the current NPP government. The basis of the injunction should, therefore, be challenged in court with compelling evidence to the contrary of what the claimant's lawyer (Hon. Afenyo Markin) submitted to the court, that convinced it to grant the injunction.
How can so-called intellectuals fail to distinguish between a court decision and actions of government? Was it Nana Akufu-Ado or the Education Minister who presided over the Winneba High Court?
The baseless allegations made by some failed politicians that the Winneba High Court Judge, is biased, is nothing short of crass stupidity. If anyone has evidence that the Winneba High Court Judge is biased, then you write to the Chief Justice (CJ) with the accompanying evidence, and ask for a different Judge to handle the case.
The current Winneba High Court Judge must be commended for being lenient. Under normal circumstances, the current Registrar of UEW, should have been jailed for contempt of court, that is, for illegally shutting down the university, and blaming the court wrongfully for that action.
In addition, the UEW UTAG executives, together with that Professor, who woefully failed to handle the affairs of the Upper East Region as a Regional Minister, should all have been charged and convicted for contempt of court by the Winneba High Court.
To be continued!
Alhassan Salifu Bawah
(son of a peasant farmer)