Tuesday, 18 February 2025, has been set for a high court in Adenta, Accra, to look into an application filed against 14 governing council members of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) for “a demonstration of disrespect” towards the high court.
A bailiff from that court reportedly served the university with a writ of summons and a statement of claim on December 23, 2024, filed against the appointments of Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor as vice-chancellor, Prof. Emmanuel Selase Asamoah as pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs and Prof. Samuel Antwi as pro-vice-chancellor for research innovation and knowledge transfer.
The same officer of the court also served the university on the same day with a motion on notice for an order of interlocutory injunction filed to restrain the governing council from swearing in and inducting the three appointees into those offices.
An ex-student of the school, Rashid Ibrahim, filed the processes in December, 2024, against the university through his lawyer, Abdul Aziz Gomda.
Following the service of the court documents, the governing council indefinitely postponed the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for December 27, 2024. But, hours later, it suddenly announced its intention to hold the event with the date maintained but the time changed from the initial 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
On the morning of the ceremony, the court delivered a penal notice, warning that contempt towards the court might be punishable by imprisonment and any other punishments. And shortly before the event, the university’s chancellor, Dr. Kofi Koduah Sarpong, issued a letter distancing himself from the investiture ceremony, citing the service of the court documents on the university as his reason.
But despite the foregoing communications, the governing council went ahead with the investiture ceremony, with the university’s registrar, Lorraine Gyan, claiming the school had not been “formally” served with any court documents.
The former student filed an application through his lawyer last Friday, January 10, asking the court to hold the governing council liable for contempt of court.
“From where we stand, at least with the unfolding of the event that happened on the 27th of December, when they went ahead to do the investiture despite having been served with the processes, we are of the view that they clearly demonstrated an intention to disrespect the court.
“So, our prayer to the court is that the court must make it very clear that the court will not condone such an act because clearly a democracy like ours thrives on people respecting the rule of law. So, for you to blatantly disregard some of these well-settled principles undermines the rule of the judiciary,” the lawyer told Media Without Borders on Sunday.
The 14 governing council members include: Dr. Kofi Ohene-Konadu, Prof. Abednego F.O. Amartey, Prof. Ernestina Fredua Anto, Kizito Beyuo, Maxwell Donkor, Paul Kwesi Amoasi Baidoo and John Dadzie-Mensah.
The rest are: Dr. Sadat Mohammed, Kwabena Akuamoah Agyekum, Mark Badu-Aboagye, Francis Dadzie, Peter Ataburo, Williams Wul-Minga Kuusori and Obimpeh Winfred Nartey.
Background
The university’s management announced on May 6, 2024, the appointment of Prof. Mawutor as the school’s vice-chancellor effective January 1, 2025.
It also appointed Prof. Asamoah as pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs and Prof. Antwi as pro-vice-chancellor for research innovation and knowledge transfer.
The plaintiff (the ex-student) tells the court in his statement of claim that the university committed some “infractions and illegalities” through its governing council prior to Prof. Mawutor’s appointment.
He says the infractions and illegalities “undermine the established rules and guidelines for the appointment and promotion of academic staff as contained in the revised version of the criteria for appointments and promotions of” senior academic staff.
The revised version, according to the former student, requires the university to promote a senior lecturer to the rank of an associate professor only if the applicant has a minimum of 7 articles published in reputable journals among other requirements.
He avers that Prof. Mawutor did not meet the standard required to be promoted to the rank of an associate professor yet the defendant (the university) disregarded the guidelines by promoting him to that rank.
“Having been unlawfully elevated to the rank of associate professor, the validity of the subsequent appointment of John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor as vice chancellor of the respondent is now being questioned as per the writ of summons and statement of claim issued by the applicant in this instant suit, inviting this honourable [court] to make a determination to that effect,” the plaintiff says in paragraph 9 of his statement of claim.
In paragraph 10 of his statement of claim, the ex-student says the university also breached the rules by appointing Prof. Asamoah as pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs and Prof. Antwi as pro-vice-chancellor for research innovation and knowledge transfer “without any legal basis.”
He says the appointments breach the Act of Parliament that established UPSA as a public university.
Reliefs sought in the substantive case
The plaintiff listed nine reliefs in addition to his request for an interlocutory injunction to prevent the investiture from taking place.
While praying that the sought interlocutory injunction, if granted, remains in force until the final determination of the substantive suit, he is also seeking a declaration that Prof. Mawutor’s promotion to the rank of associate professor by the university was defective, unlawful and of no effect.
He wants a declaration that Prof. Mawutor’s appointment as vice chancellor, having been “defectively promoted” to the rank of associate professor, was invalid and of no effect as he never met the requirement of professorship needed to be a vice-chancellor.
The former student is praying that the court declares that the creation of the office of pro-vice-chancellor for research innovation and knowledge transfer and the office of pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs is beyond their legal power and thereby null and void. He is further asking for an order setting aside Prof. Mawutor’s appointment as the university’s vice-chancellor.
He is requesting an order setting aside the appointments of Prof. Asamoah as pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs and Prof. Antwi as pro-vice-chancellor for research innovation and knowledge transfer. He is looking for an order directed to the university to comply with provisions of the revised version of “the criteria for appointments and promotions” of senior academic staff.
The alumnus also wants an order restraining the school from appointing any individual who does not meet the status of professorship as the vice-chancellor, an order directed to the university to comply with the Act of Parliament establishing the school in appointing a pro-vice-chancellor and any other reliefs or remedies the court may deem fit.
The lawsuit filed against UPSA is one of the several controversial happenings seen in recent times at public tertiary institutions across Ghana under the watch of the Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
