The Africa Education Watch, an education think tank, has urged the Ministry of Education to ensure that former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Professor Mawutor Avoke, and others ousted from the institution are reinstated as directed by the court.
“We call on the Minister of Education to take a keen interest in following through to ensure every decision of the Winneba High Court is fully and timeously implemented to serve justice, especially to innocent persons who have suffered the injustice of being denied their jobs, salaries and other entitlements.”
“The lessons from the UEW politics and litigation are too expensive to be forgotten by the university/academic community in Ghana. Let’s all be guided accordingly,” Africa Education Watch noted in a statement.
A legal tussle, which began in July 2017, saw Professor Mawutor Avoke and three other principal officers dismissed for some alleged financial malfeasance. Three senior lecturers including Professor Ephraim Avea Nsoh were later in 2019 dismissed for misconduct and insubordination. But a Winneba High Court, last week, ordered that Professor Mawutor Avoke be reinstated, including all those who were affected by the legal tussle.
The court also directed that their salary arrears should be paid with retrospective effect from the date they were unlawfully removed.
The Africa Education Watch believes that while the process of reconciliation has begun, with the formation of a Committee at the UEW, its successful outcome depends on the genuine honesty and commitment of members and affected persons to forgive and move on.
