Senior members of the BTU refutes allegation

Senior Members of the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in the Upper East Region have refuted the allegation that they were not happy about the processes that led to the appointment of Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa as the Vice-Chancellor of the University.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Members of the Convocation of the University refuted the allegation at a press conference held in the University’s council chamber on Thursday.

The statement was signed by the Dean of School of Engineering, Dr. Edward Nabil, the Head of the Liberal Studies Department, Dr. Oswin Aganda Anaba and the Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Alhassan Azuman on behalf of the group.

The Head of Public Affairs stressed “we the Senior Members of this university vehemently disassociate ourselves from the purported write-up captioned, “Protest Against the Appointment of Associate Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa as Vice-Chancellor of the BTU”, authored by one Mr Emmanuel Akanpaadgi and published by some traditional and social media outlets.

It would be recalled that the University’s Council in accordance with the Technical Universities Act 2016 (Act, 922) as amended and the new status of the University, facilitated the work of the Search Committee to conduct an interview and appointed Professor Alnaa and other five key senior officeholders to run the affairs of the university four years period.

Just immediately after that, the completion of the Search Committee work and the Council’s decision on the issue, one of the University’s staff, Mr Emmanuel Akanpaadgi resorted to media war to discredit the work of the University’s council and the whole interview exercise.

Mr Akanpaadgi did that by issuing and signing press statement on behalf of the Members of the Convocation of the University and dispatching it to some media houses for publication without consulting them, thereby prompting the senior members to react.

"Convocation thus stands by the decision of the Council as its finds the purported write-up by self-acclaimed Dr Emmanuel Akanpaadgi as unfortunate, unfounded and malicious and wishes to inform the media, the alumni of the university and our respected publics to disregard it for its lack of substance.

Members of the Convocation of the University stressed that as stated that Mr Akanpaadgi is a Dr. in the purported press release he issued to the media, it was not true that he bears that title and that he is yet to complete the process to be recognized as a Doctorate degree holder which he obtained through online from the Swiss Management Centre.

The Head of Public Affairs, who entreated the media practitioners to always cross-check their facts before publication stressed that the position of the Vice-Chancellor including the Registrar, the Director of Finance, Director of Internal Audit, Director of Works and Physical Development and Director of Library were all advertised in the Wednesday issue of the Ghanaian Times, January 2021 per the public sector employment protocols.

He stated that after management of the university through the advert invited application from requisite qualification and experience after which it submitted them to the Search Committee that was tasked to go about the interview exercise.

He said subsequently the Council upon receiving the recommendations from the Search Committee discussed extensively the reports of the various candidates which led to Professor Alnaa emerging as the Vice-Chancellor of the University and other five key senior officeholders.

The Members of the Convocation of the University who earlier on held a crunch meeting to discuss the issue warned Senior Members who feel aggrieved to always use the laid down procedures of the university in addressing their concerns instead of rushing to the media to beat the war drums.

In the said crunch meeting, Mr Akanpaadgi apologized for his misconduct and was further asked by the Members of the Convocation to withdraw the statement he made in the media landscape, indicting the University’s Council, the Members of the Convocation of the University and the new Vice-Chancellor.