K-Poly Rector booted out

The embattled Rector of the Kumasi Polytechnic, Dr. B.E.K. Prah, has been forced to proceed on leave, pending investigations into a series of allegations of corruption, abuse of office and administrative malfeasances leveled against him by the local branch of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG).

Following an emergency meeting held last Wednesday by the Polytechnic Council, which was chaired by Alhaji Salifu Seidu, the Council resolved that the Rector proceed on 204 days leave, while a five-member committee is set up by the council to probe into the allegations leveled against him.

In his absence, the Vice Rector, Mr. Eric Brobbey, has been asked to take over the administration of the school, until a substantive head is appointed.

The 5-member committee, ably chaired by Professor Tuah of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), is expected to report its findings back to the council for the necessary action to be taken.

The decision therefore sinks any hope by the Rector to seek an extension of his four year mandate, which expired this week.

A highly-placed source, has told this reporter that Dr. Prah was not likely to be admitted back into the institution, considering the animosity and bad blood that had ensued between his administration and lecturers of the school.

Earlier this week, the local POTAG body issued a threat to embark on a sit-down strike, if the Council went ahead to renew the mandate of the Rector.

The local chairman of the teaching body in the school, has meanwhile, told the paper in a telephone conversation, that the association was yet to take a decision as to whether to rescind its decision or not, stating that the final decision would be taken on Monday, after due consultations.

The beleaguered K-Poly Rector is facing a series of allegations of financial misappropriations, abuse of office and maladministration, prominent among which include the award of a $19,000 computer assembly contract to his nephew based in the United States, without passing through the public procurement act, and the school's internet network connection system, which he was alleged to have offered to a Nigerian-based ICT firm, Socket Works Limited, which has since borne no fruits.