The legal tussle between the Board of the University of Education, Winneba, and Prof. Mawutor Avoke appears to be coming to finality, following an order from the Winneba High Court to the university to reinstate his as the Vice-Chancellor.
That means that four others dismissed under similar circumstances at the UEW will also be re-instated.
The Court, presided over by Justice Aboagye Tandoh, also charged the university to reinstate the other four principal officers, who were “unlawfully” dismissed, to their former grades.
The four are the Finance Officer, Dr Theophilus Senyo Ackorlie; Daniel Tetteh, Mary Dzimey and Frank Owusu Boateng. The court ruled that their salary arrears must be paid from the date they were removed from their respective positions.
In 2017, Prof. Avoke was instructed to vacate his post until a case against him and the university Council, initiated by by Supi Kofi Kwayera, was determined. The plaintiff alleged and cited financial and procurement irregularities against Prof. Avoke.
He also claimed that the University Council’s mandate expired in 2013. However, the Education Ministry failed to constitute a new Governing Council. The university interdicted Prof. Avoke and four others after it emerged that some vital documents at some offices at the centre of an ongoing investigation had disappeared.
Fact-finding committee
A fact-finding committee that set up to look into the matter suggested the dismissal of the officers in August 2018. The decision by the university’s Governing Council was described by many as politically motivated. The Governing Council of the university later appointed Rev. Fr. Professor Anthony Afful-Broni as the substantive Vice-Chancellor for a limited period of three years
