My KNUST exit ‘politically motivated’ – Amoako Baah

The former Head of Department for History and Political Science at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Richard Amoako Baah, has blamed his departure from the institution on machinations by the erstwhile government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to him, it was normal practice for the university to offer lecturers who hit retirement age a two-year contract engagement.

However, he was not given any such offer even though all his colleagues retiring last year got an extension.

“It is almost like a norm. Everybody gets it but I did not get it. They did not tell me anything. They had planned all this while to get rid of me but somehow they couldn’t, and, so, they saw this as a time to do it, it is politics,” he told Moro Awudu on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday, 20 February.

He explained that the General Secretary of the NDC once asked him if he felt he was going to remain at the institution forever. This, he said, made him believe that some political figures were behind the decision not to extend his stay at KNUST.

He pointed out that he did not blame the current vice-chancellor of the university for the situation, indicating that all arrangements may have taken place before he took office.

Asked if he was sure his exit was politically linked, he said: “It appears so because why would everybody get it and my own friend was afraid [to tell me] and he threw me under the bus. It is very bad but shameful really.”

He continued: “My department is dying, there are no people there to teach, there are not enough professors. So why would I, who started the graduate programme and brought a lot of changes in the department, made it popular, why would you let me go like that unless you have an ulterior motive? It makes no sense.”

“It is irresponsible to do that, you have students coming up and I would have loved to carry the third-year students once more and say a proper goodbye but none of it happened. Not even a handshake.”