University Vice Chancellor, Registrar ‘dismissed’ by High Court

Professor Eric Magnus Wilmot has been dismissed as the Vice Chancellor of the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences ( CKT-UTAS).

Dr. Vincent Ankamah-Lomotey has also been barred from holding himself as the Registrar of the Navrongo-Based University.

A Bolgatanga High Court presided over by Justice Charles Agyei Wilson granted consequential orders to the effect that on Monday November 27, 2023.

The ruling by the court has sparked considerable apprehension and uncertainty on the Campus of the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo, Upper East Region.

The order bars the two principal officers of the University from holding themselves as Vice Chancellor and Registrar respectively, and undertaking or performing any duty on the basis of their positions.

The ruling of the court, delivered by Justice of the High Court Judge, Justice Charles Agyei Wilson granted consequential orders to the effect that; the appointment of the  officers Professor Wilmot and Dr Ankamah-Lomotey could no longer hold themselves as Vice Chancellor and Registrar respectively; they are prohibited from taking any steps to perform any duties and functions; and that the University Governing Council shall nominate an interim management board for the University until the appointment of a substantive Vice Chancellor and a  Registrar.

Mr  Joseph Pwoawuvi Weguri, the plaintiff, had sued the University(1st Respondent), the Attorney General(2nd Respondent), Prof Eric Magnus Wilmot( 3rd Respondent) and Dr Vincent Ankamah Lomotey(4th Respondent) in March 2023 arguing among others that Prof Wilmot and Dr Ankamah-Lomotey had attained the age of compulsory retirement prior to their appointment as principal officers of the University.

He asked that the Court declare their appointment null and void and that they be made to refund all their salaries and other payments made to them within the period they held their office.

The Court granted his prayer for an annulment of their appointment but did not agree with him that they refund payments they had received.

The defendants had argued that the appointment of retired persons as foundation principal officers of universities in Ghana was not new and that they be allowed to continue in their position owing to the fact that the University had just been founded and they served as the first Vice Chancellor and Registrar of it. But the Court dismissed their defense.

Reading his ruling the trial judge disclosed “The plaintiff[ Joseph Weguri], I am satisfied that the petition is not an abuse of the process of the court, and, as such, it is not unreasonable that it should be pursued. For this reason, I am of the opinion that the plaintiff’s relief should be upheld…Now looking at the 3rd and 4th defendants’ letters of appointments, it is unlikely that the defendants would be able to pay back all arrears of salary. For the reasons herein given, I dismiss the plaintiff’s reliefs for a refund of salary and allowances from the consolidated fund,” the judge noted in his ruling.