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Opinions of Wednesday, 13 December 2023

Columnist: Alhassan Salifu Bawah

Has the NPP government sold UEW to an MP?

The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) The University of Education, Winneba (UEW)

The University of Education, Winneba (UEW), has been in the news since the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took over on 7th January 2017.

One particular individual, who has one vote, just like any other NPP member or activist, concluded on the assumption of power by the NPP on 7th January 2017 that, under Equity and Trusts Law; more specifically, Resulting Trust, the ownership of UEW resulted to him. This individual, for this write-up, will be referred to as a Masturbating Progeny (MP).

In the hallucinations of this MP, the declaration of the NPP as the winner of the 7th December 2016 general elections, subsequently declared UEW as bona vacantia, whereof, the University escheated him.

This MP, by hook or crook, removed some top-level officers of the University from office, and installed a new slate of officers that he erroneously believed to be his ‘goro boys’.

Immediately following the appointment of the new officers, it dawned on them that should they continue as ‘goro boys’ of this MP, they would end up in jail at some point, since legally, they would be held liable for any act or omission in their capacity as Managers of the University.

An attempt to assert their independence led to a serious rift between the new officers and the MP. From late 2018 to 30th September 2021, UEW was bastardized beyond the imagination of the reasonable man on the street.

The appointment of Prof. Obeng Mireku as Chairman of the UEW Governing Council from July 2019 to July 2021, to a greater extent, kept this marauding MP at bay from the meager funds of UEW. This Council tenure expired before it could appoint the next VC to take over from the outgoing VC from 1st October 2021, even though following an advertisement for the upcoming vacant position of VC from 1st October 2021, a Search Committee was put in place and applications were duly received, interviews conducted and applicants shortlisted for Council’s consideration and subsequent appointment.

On or about 18th August 2021, a new Council was inaugurated under the Chairmanship of an associate of this MP. This MP then engineered an injunction application against the new UEW Council from receiving and discussing the Search Report emanating from the Prof. Obeng Mireku-led Council Search Committee.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Pro-VC), in accordance with UEW Statutes 2007, was appointed to act in the interim.

Intelligence intercepted before the inauguration of the UEW Governing Council on 18th August 2021 indicated that following an invitation extended by the President to Prof. Obeng Mireku for a one-on-one discussion, Prof. was assured of being re-appointed for a second term as UEW Council Chairman from August 2021 to August 2023.

Sadly, this MP schemed to scuttle the re-appointment of Prof. Obeng Mireku as UEW Council Chairman, since he failed to convince Prof. Obeng Mireku to become his ‘goro boy’ and subsequently do his dirty bidding during his first tenure.

Prof. Obeng Mireku, after having been assured by the President of returning to UEW, woke up one morning and found himself at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) as its Council Chairman.

Following a High Court ruling in February 2022, the officers who were removed from the employ of UEW in 2017, were reinstated under the aegis of this MP.

Unbridled pressure (like Bebeto and Romario leading the Brazilian National football team attack), was brought to bear on the reinstated VC to dismiss me, by this MP and his puppets, one of them, a traditional ruler, and some northern ‘brothers’, prominent among them being a UEW security guard who always speaks Hausa to me.

By the grace of Allah, the reinstated VC, saw their evil and avoided it!!
May Allah continue to guide, bless, and protect Prof. Mawutor Avoke, from evil and wicked people!!

This MP, having manipulated processes at the Office of the President to get one of his associates appointed as Chairman of the UEW Governing Council and another as a Council Member, then proceeded to take full control of the University.

The 2021 Search Committee Report was thrown to the dogs by the MP-controlled UEW Council, A new Search Committee was put in place by the MP-controlled Council and it appointed a VC (virtually at its last meeting before its tenure expired) to take over from the reinstated VC on 1st October, 2023.

This same Council advertised the position of Chancellor for the University and subsequently appointed a traditional ruler as the Chancellor. So at some point in 2023, UEW had a traditional ruler as its Council Chairman and a traditional ruler as its Chancellor. Which other public university in Ghana has a traditional ruler Chairing its Council and a traditional ruler presiding over its affairs as Chancellor?

Of late, secret meetings have been convened, with some traditional rulers and this MP in attendance, purposely to plan the dismissal of two (2) Professors (one at Ajumako as Principal, and the other at the North Campus, as a Dean), and myself. Reason? For having supported the Vice President in both the Super Delegates Conference and the National Delegates Conference. I have been slapped with the additional charge of speaking out against the evil acts that this MP is perpetrating against UEW.

The question is, is this MP UEW? One now wonders the significance of the University of Education, Winneba Act, 2004 (Act 672), as amended by the AMMUSTED Act, 2020 (Act 1026) and Statutes of the University.

Expanding on this sad state of affairs at UEW and its concomitant victimization of NPP members who stood their ground and refused to serve as ‘goro boys’ of this MP, the spokesperson for the UEW Concerned Staff, Prof. George Kankam Snr. (President of the UEW NPP Chapter, known as the Senior Patriots Club), has had his application for the renewal of his post-retirement contract, denied, even though he hasn’t been declared medically unfit by a competent Medical Practitioner or Medical Body.

The spokesperson for the UEW Concerned Staff, Prof. Kankam Snr. was invited together with some of the Concerned Staff by the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum to a meeting at the Ministry of Education on 14th September, 2023.
For whatever reasons, the Minister failed to notify them that the owner of UEW together with his entourage, were also invited to this meeting. To put it bluntly, the UEW Concerned Staff were ambushed by the Minister of Education. That meeting ended up being an exercise in futility, as the spokesperson for the group has been singled out for extreme victimization.

So NPP is in power and its members are being treated this way? How many votes has this MP got? Is this the reward of having sacrificed for the party? This same MP goes about bribing some media houses with his ill-gotten wealth, to blacklist me. Only Allah can blacklist me, not a devil!!

Is there a provision in UEW Statutes 2020 that prohibits its staff from expressing their opinions about the activities of an MP or a traditional ruler who decides to sacrifice the sanctity of his stool and willingly accept a semi-political appointment?

The barring of Chiefs from politics under Chapter Twenty-Two of the 1992 Constitution, is in furtherance of the revered positions of Chiefs in our society. Therefore, any Chief who voluntarily steps out of his Palace to accept a semi-political appointment, should either live above board like the Council of State Chairman or stoop so low as to play the role of a ‘goro boy’ for a criminal and bear the consequences.

Currently, UEW Statutes 2020 is under review. Therefore, if anyone is of the strong belief that some particular persons in the Community in which the University is cited merits ‘worship’, nothing stops them from inserting a clause in the Statutes to this effect. When this is done, all staff of UEW will then troop to the homes of these UEW owners and pay homage to them every morning, before reporting to their various offices. Until this is done, some of us will continue to speak out against evil.

Instead of planning covertly to get rid of some of us from UEW or the surface of the earth, the mere insertion of the above clause (all UEW staff to bow before evil), will automatically result in some of us leaving UEW. So the conspirators should put a stop to their useless clandestine meetings, and simply insert this clause in the Statutes.

My educational certificates are not tied to UEW, and I was somewhere before joining UEW in 2014, I’m of the firm belief that UEW is not my last stop. We Moshies are nomads, just like our brothers and sisters Fulanis, so getting stuck in one location is like being sent to Siberia. Leaving the employ of UEW will come with the beauty of giving me the freedom to go all out after this MP.

Prof. Obeng Mireku served one term as Chairman of the UEW Governing Council and was sent packing to UCC to serve as its Council Chairman. Following this tradition, nothing stops the government from sending the Chairman of the defunct UEW Council, that is, the person that this MP is moving heaven and earth to have him and one other associate re-appointed to the UEW Council, to a sister university like UCC or University of Ghana, Legon, just as was done to Prof. Obeng Mireku in 2021, in order for the MP’s associates to continue rendering their invaluable services to Mother Ghana. What is good for the goose, is equally good for the gander.

The leadership of the NPP is advised that almost all the proposed candidates of this MP for appointments in this government, are not NPP members, so please forget their votes. To further worsen the plight of the NPP, such appointments and the subsequent actions or inactions of the appointed ‘goro boys’ of this MP, do nothing other than destroy the NPP.

For instance, most of the Senior Patriots have vowed not to waste their energy, resources, and votes for the party to come to power and end up being hijacked by crooks at the expense of the greater majority.

This MP is freely counseled to get his ‘goro boys’ proper training in intelligence-led operations. One of these goro boys, called Lies or something like that, who is currently fronting for the MP’s painting contract in UEW, attempted to point me out to some unemployed layabouts at the Students Center, north campus, on Friday 8th December 2023, at about 2:30 pm but was unsuccessful. It was haphazard; just like using a bulldozer to demolish homes unlawfully.

In the warped mind of this MP, every employee of UEW is in Winneba as a tourist to view the seaside, and as a result, that he alone deserves every pesewa of the University and every vacancy. This was the case with the recent recruitment of staff for the yet-to-be-completed halls of residence.

The position of a majority of the Senior Patriots is that any attempt to re-appoint any of the government appointees from the defunct Council or any proposed candidate of this MP onto the yet-to-be-constituted UEW Governing Council will catalyze chaos in the University.

Without Much Ado, it is apparent that the Government has ceded control and ownership of UEW to this MP; who is bent on using the University as a conduit to siphon public funds at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaian.

I wish to use this medium to assure Musah Adamu, Chairman of the NDC UK Chapter, JB, Kobby, and Bright (NDC UK foot soldiers), who are my former colleagues in the British Army that this particular elephant is very friendly, are warmly welcome for a ride. The umbrella is not spacious enough to contain all of us.
Comrades, be assured that this elephant will provide you with absolute peace, security, and prosperity. Though this elephant can easily crush the umbrella anytime anywhere (be it 7th December 2024 or 2028), for the sake of our brotherhood, this special elephant has been domesticated (Dan Lartey, 2004) to tread cautiously.

I want the banter to continue on the platform, so please don’t allow the brighter prospects of the elephant ahead to give you a nervous shock!!