UTAG denies power struggle in COLTEK and CAGRIC

Teachers in the Kumasi and Asante Mampong campuses of the University of Education Winneba (UEW) say they expect the President to appoint the Vice-Chancellor of the newly created University for Skills and Entrepreneurial Development from among qualified professors on the two campuses.

According to them, there was no power struggle among the professors and lecturers in respect of the appointment of a Vice Chancellor for the Akenten Appiah-Minkah University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AA-USTED) as was being portrayed in a section of the media.

The Teachers stated these at a press conference organized by the College of Technology Education in Kumasi (COLTEK) and the College of Agricultural Education Asante Mampong (CAGRIC) chapters of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) in Kumasi.

Dr. Stephen Baffour Adjei, Chairman of UTAG-COLTEK, who spoke on behalf of the teachers at the conference, said “there is no slightest evidence of factionalism, power struggle, or administrative conflict whatsoever, by any stretch of the imagination, among the hardworking professors and lecturers of COLTEK and CAGRIC.

Professors, Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, staff and students of the two campuses have enjoyed a very cordial and collegial relationship spanning decades, and continue to do so on an even higher level under the able leadership of Professor Frederick Kwaku Sarfo and Professor James Kagya-Agyeman,” he stated.

Dr Adjei pointed out that, one of the important considerations for governments all over the world to decide to grant a campus of a University an autonomy status, was that, the campus already had very good leadership, administrative and governance structure that it was using to expand the University in terms of infrastructure and programmes, as well as its unique contribution to national development.

He said the two campuses that had now been converted into full-fledged autonomous University had existing and properly functioning leadership and administrative structures that were manned by qualified, competent and experienced full professors who had toiled and laboured to bring the campuses to a status that was now ready and worthy to be granted autonomy.

Dr Adjei explained that appointing a Vice-Chancellor from the tried and tested existing academic and leadership structures of COLTEK and CAGRIC would consolidate the significant gains made in Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) education over the years and ensure that there was absolute peace and harmony on all the campuses of the university,

Again, appointing a Vice-Chancellor and other key positions from among the deserving staff of COLTEK and CAGRIC would serve as a motivation to the hardworking academic and non-academic staff to work even harder because of the assurance of meritocracy that such an appointment would bring.

Dr Adjei called on all academic and non-academic staff of COLTEK and CAGRIC to harness their intellectual and professional resources to contribute to the transformation of TVET education and the industrialization agenda of the government of Ghana.