Prof Avoke’s mandate challenged

Prof Avoke removed from office in 2017

Court orders reinstatement of UEW principal officers removed from office in 2017 legal battle

A Winneba High Court has ruled that the removal of former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education – Winneba, Professor Mawutor Avoke was unlawful.

The court has thus ordered the reinstatement of Professor Mawutor Avoke as the Vice-Chancellor of the university.

The presiding judge, Aboagye Tandoh, according to a citinewsroom.com report sighted by GhanaWeb, has again ordered the university to reinstate all other employees who lost their positions in the school or were affected by the long legal battle dating back to 2017.

The persons to be reinstated, according to the court’s ruling, must also be paid their salary arrears with retrospective effect from the day they were removed.

A suit was brought against Prof. Avoke and the Finance Officer of UEW in 2017 in which the plaintiff argued that the two officers of the school were operating under an expired governing council mandate.

The Winneba High Court, following the suit, ordered Prof Avoke to step aside pending the determination of the case brought against him and the governing council by one Supi Kofi Kwayera.

The plaintiff in his suit argued that the Governing Council of the university’s mandate had expired in 2013 and had therefore been rendered defunct.

He noted, however, that the existing council headed by Prof Avoke, owing to the failure of the Ministry of Education to constitute a new governing council, continued to illegally occupy office without a valid mandate.

Supi Kofi Kwayera further alleged financial and procurement irregularities on the part of Prof Avoke.

The governing council, following the decision by the High Court in 2017, removed Prof. Avoke and other principal officers of the university in December 2017.

Their removal however was tagged by many as having been politically motivated.