Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang
The University of Education at Winneba in the Central Region has been dragged to court over its refusal to reconstitute the defunct governing council and also the issue of award of contracts authorized by the council, running into millions of Ghana cedis.
A former assembly member for Donkoryiem and resident in the Effutu municipality where the university is located, Supi Kofi Kwayera, filed the suit at the Winneba high court, challenging the institution over a breach of Act 672 and the Procurement Act (Act 663) as well as alleged misappropriation of public funds.
According to Supi Kofi Kwayera, the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) in blatant breach of Act 672, had refused to re-constitute its governing council which tenure of office had long ended and awarded several contracts, including the construction of a hostel executed at the cost of GH¢47.8 million as well as the purchase of eight pick-ups costing GH¢800,000. The applicant claims that the contracts smack of malfeasance.
In his suit, Supi Kofi Kwayera also explained that the defunct council had awarded several other contracts in wanton disregard of procurement procedures.
The contracts are the construction of UEW’s commercial centre, lecturers’ office complex, a hostel at the Ajumako campus of the varsity, a guest house, a distance learning centre in Accra and also another distance learning centre at Sogakope in the Volta Region.
According to the former assembly member, upon the advice of the defunct governing council, a new vice chancellor and a finance officer as principal officers, were appointed to run the affairs of the university and wants such appointments to be reversed.
“The defunct governing council made appointments, approved expenditures and conferred various degrees and diplomas during the period that it had no such mandate,” Supi Kofi Kwayera said in his suit.
The suit was filed on behalf of the applicant by Komla Onny, his solicitor, on Tuesday, May 23 and would be heard by the court on Monday, June 5, 2017.
This particular case had also been raised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alex Afenyo-Markin, on the floor of parliament, and that led him to file an urgent question in the house in reference to it.
Subsequently, the then Minister of Education, Prof Jane Naana Agyemang, appeared in parliament on June 23, 2016 to respond to the urgent question and admitted that the tenure of the governing council had long ended and said steps were being taken to reconstitute it.
Mr Afenyo-Markin had also argued that it was not in the interest of the community for the university to engage artisans from outside the municipality to work on projects being undertaken.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr