UEW impasse: We are not in a lawless state – Opoku Prempeh rebukes trespassers

Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has condemned in plain words, actions by some dismissed staff of the school in recent times, maintaining that due process must be followed and the law applied if there are any contentions.

Mr. Prempeh’s statements come in the wake of brewing tensions in the University with a combined team of National Security Operatives and Police Personnel chasing out some dismissed staff of the University on Tuesday including the former Vice-Chancellor Professor Mawutor Avoke.

The dismissed staff who stormed the premises on Tuesday 23rd, July 2019, to assume running of the university were chased out by security personnel who were present.

Addressing the issue during a ‘Meet the Press Series’ in Accra Wednesday, Napo said the ‘offenders’ ought to be duly charged by the police following their unwarranted actions.

“We are not going to accept such things. Where will it end? I’m rather surprised the police have not charged the trespassers in court by now, because even if you are [V-C], somebody must ensure that you’re there. You can’t run to a school and go and sit in a chair and say you’re a V-C, it is not easy like that. There’s a process that you have to go through. You can challenge the process, you can go to court and even if you win, it has to be executed and it’s all through legal means, we’re not in a lawless state”.

Endorsing the current Vice Chancellor, Rev. Father Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni as the only legal and legitimate person to occupy that position in the school, he said

“I can say without hesitation that there is only one Vice-Chancellor in UEW. If this country wants to go in a lawless way, somebody can run from somewhere and come and sit in Flagstaff House very soon and say: ‘I’m the president’. There’s only one legal legitimate Vice-Chancellor and it is Rev Afful-Broni. Anybody who doesn’t understand must go through the legal process,” He said.

Background

Prof Avoke and five other officers of the university were temporarily injuncted for alleged breaches of office and malfeasance of a financial nature. After investigations by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Prof Avoke and the others were proven innocent and discharged of the said charges for which they were dismissed.

As a result, Rev. Father. Anthony Afful-Broni was invested as Vice-Chancellor of the school at a ceremony graced by President Nana Akufo-Addo in September 2018 while the legal battle over the dismissal of Prof Avoke was still being litigated.

Following the UEW tussle, the front of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has been divided over the matter.