Bolga Technical University ‘boils’ over appointment of VC

There is an ongoing protest at the Bolgatanga Technical University following the appointment of Associate Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa as Vice-Chancellor.

Information reaching Rainbowradioonline indicates that after the Bolgatanga Polytechnic was concerted into a tertiary institution in 2020, it was expected that the senior management members will create an opportunity for new blood to be introduced into the management of the institution in order to help the institution fulfil its mandate.

But that was not done and the Council of the school went ahead to advertise key/principal positions even before the Search Committee(s) and other committees of the University such as convocation and the academic board which were to nominate members to the search committee(s) were reconstituted.

From what we also gathered, the advertisement for the key positions in the school was to be done by the Search Committee but was usurped by the Council.

The attention of the school was drawn to the issue following which an emergency meeting was held. The meeting was used to amend the statutes to allow the Council to perform that function initially reserved for the Search Committee with retrospective effect.

Meanwhile, the Local Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) became suspicious about the genuineness of the intention of the Council.

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) was therefore petitioned to intervene and ensure sanity.

The Commission responded by advising TUTAG to cooperate with the Council and also advised the Council to act in accordance with the Technical Universities Act(s) and the statutes of the University.

We have also gathered Prof. Godwin Awabil, a full Professor with rich and extensive experience in academia emerged as the candidate with the highest score but he was ignored and the opportunity was given to Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa although he could not show reasons why he deserved the appointment.

The situation has generated a lot of anxiety among the senior members which needs urgent intervention from the powers that be in order to avoid the disruption of academic work on campus.