'My reinstatement meaningless until all sacked UEW lecturers brought back' – Duku

One of the three recently-dismissed and subsequently reinstated lecturers of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Dr Frimpong Kaakyire Duku, has accused the university’s Governing Council of “selective justice”.

According to Dr Duku, all the sacked lecturers must be reinstated rather than just the three who were booted out by the Vice-Chancellor Reverend Father Prof Anthony Afful-Broni.

At least 30 staff of the university, including 23 lecturers lost their jobs within the past year.

In the most recent dismissals, the V-C cited misconduct and insubordination among other reasons, for sacking Prof. Ephraim Avea Nsoh, Dr Emmanuel Osei Sarpong, and Dr Duku, who all denied any wrongdoing.

Their dismissal caused an uproar on campus and the student body and alumni embarked on a series of protests, one of which turned violent leading to the temporary closure of the school.

The Governing Council of the university, in a statement on Tuesday, 3 April 2019, described the state of affairs at the university as “very worrying”.

It said the university’s state of affairs was attracting negative reportage in the media, which does not augur well for institutional branding and development and, therefore, pardoned the three lecturers and announced their reinstatement.

The council also announced that school will re-open on Monday, 8 April 2019.

Reacting to his reinstatement in an interview with Benjamin Akakpo on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Thursday, 4 April 2019, Dr Duku, who is also the UEW Chapter president of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), said he was unhappy his other colleagues sacked by the V-C had not been reinstated.

Dr Duku said: “I’ll be the happiest man if all those sacked were being reinstated. As it is now, there appears to be selective justice where they believe the leadership of the association and those that had a mouth must be reinstated while those that have kept quiet all this while who have suffered these illegal dismissals are home. I’m not sure I’m the happiest person.”

Asked if reinstating all sacked staff of the university would make him happy, Dr Duku said: “That should be the ideal [situation] because if you look at the reasons for dismissing those staff, it is something that we believe they could have also been pardoned as well. So, as a leader, I’m not sure I should be happy I’ve been reinstated while my friends and colleagues are at home. So, I think the best way was to give that broader amnesty to everybody.”