The entire membership of the University Teachers Association, UEW Chapter have condemned the staged coup d’état-like Press Release issued on July 23rd 2019 by Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku, President of UTAG-UEW and his Executives, which claimed that all the members of UTAG-UEW supported the Reinstatement of former Vice-Chancellor Professor Mawutor Avoke and other dismissed staff of the University.
In a Press statement issued, the entire UTAG-UEW said they do not support in any way, the a “weird, scandalous and most frivolous position of a self-declared reinstatement back to office of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mawutor Avoke, and some other dismissed staff of the University.”
The Statement which was signed by Eric Nketiah, on Behalf of UTAG-UEW Members stated categorically that the Press Release represents the personal parochial views of Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku and his Executives and does not arise from a majority or consensus decision of the entire UEW-UTAG members.
“More especially, the Press Statement is a huge indictment on the integrity of Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku, who a few weeks ago, had been granted pardon by the UEW Governing Council for an earlier disciplinary action on some acts that constituted gross misconduct. Indeed, we the general members, had in an earlier Press Conference in March, 2019 pleaded with the Governing Council to tamper justice with mercy and recall Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku and some two others back to work following their dismissal.”
He stated that the Governing Council granted their request and reinstated the three culprits through its power of pardon, but could not comprehend the nauseating recalcitrant behaviour of Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku as exhibited through the Press Release and interviews granted the media “and tacitly supporting the barging into office by Prof. Avoke and some other officers. This behaviour by Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku reinforces the fact that Council’s earlier decision to dismiss him for acts of gross misconduct was well thought-out and deservedly applied.”
He again stated that UTAG leader worth his salt would have ensured that such an important decision that attempts to support a Rambo-style removal of a sitting Vice-Chancellor or that seeks to support a rehearsed-gatecrashing reinstatement of a former Vice-Chancellor should have been taken at a well organised General Meeting of the entire UTAG-UEW members.
He stated that, “Indeed, we, the bonafide members of UTAG-UEW, find the behaviour and acts perpetrated by Prof. Mawutor Avoke and the other dismissed officers and the behaviour of Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku as well as some serving staff on the afternoon of Tuesday July 23, 2019 as not only abhorrent but a huge scar on the integrity of some intellectuals who once led the University and are still seeking, through the several suits filed at the courts to, once again, become leaders of the University.”
They said they were aware of a court action at the Cape Coast High Court by the same Prof. Avoke and the dismissed officers seeking to challenge their dismissal/or being asked to step aside and was hoping that Prof. Avoke and the other dismissed officers would have had the patience to wait for the Court’s ruling which, we understand, will be delivered on July 30, 2019.
“What is even more worrisome is the fact that this rambo-style attitude of self-reinstatement by the dismissed officers is a conspicuously contemptuous attitude by Prof. Avoke and his cohorts shown to the Courts -the very place where they are seeking justice,” he noted stressing that they still recognise and support Very Rev. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni as the legally-backed properly-appointed and the legitimate Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba.
“His term of office runs through September, 2021 and we urge him to continue performing his legally-sanctioned administrative and management duties in the interest of UEW and should not be distracted by such acts of high level recklessness. It is clear that Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku’s Press Release was wrought out of mischief.”
They also indicated that in the current circumstances, Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku has not been mandated to speak for the generality of UTAG-UEW members.
Dr. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku, they said spoke for his egoistic errant self and same should be treated with the contempt it deserves.
By : Dominic Akuffo