Avoke expected in office after court reinstatements him as UEW V-C
Prof. Mawutor Avoke has welcomed his reinstatement as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) by the Winneba High Court.
In a press statement on Wednesday, February 02, 2022, Prof. Avoke said he “genuinely expect” to return to office “in the coming days” to perform his duties as Vice Chancellor for the next two years.
The Winneba High Court, presided over by his Lordship, Aboagye Tandoh, on Wednesday, ordered that Prof. Avoke be reinstated as the Vice-Chancellor of the UEW.
The Court also ruled that all others who lost their positions in the Univrsity or were affected by the legal tussle, be reinstated, and their salary arrears paid with retrospective effect from the day they were “unlawfully” removed.
Prof. Avoke described the Court’s judgment as “well-reasoned,” “sound” and a vindication of his position that issues leading to his removal from office were “divisive.”
He said he would not boast over the outcome and pledged to work with the “genuineness of heart” and “ensure that complete and total reconciliation is done…”
“…with the help of the almighty God, I intend to work every day with all the genuineness of heart, skill, and diligence at my disposal to ensure that complete and total reconciliation is done between me and all the persons who may seem to have been vanquished by today’s judicial determination,” he said.
Prof. Avoke said there was the need to “put the bitter past behind us” and rallied all officers of the University to “work together honestly and diligently” to enable the institution to achieve global excellence.
“It is in doing this and more that the UEW will be deemed to have achieved its true and stated purpose,” he said.
“I pledge that upon my return to office in the coming days, I will provide the committed and visionary leadership needed to help the UEW to either achieve or move it closer to achieving its stated purpose,” he added.
In 2017, one Supi Kofi Kwayera filed a case at the Winneba High Court, arguing that Prof. Avoke, who was the Vice-Chancellor of the UEW at the time, and the Finance Officer of the University, were operating under the Institution’s “defunct” Governing Council.
The plaintiff argued that the University’s Council’s mandate had expired in November 2013, but the Education Ministry failed to constitute a new Governing Council for the University and rather allowed the “defunct” Governing Council, which had no mandate to continue in the functions of a properly constituted Governing Council.
The Court consequently ordered Prof. Avoke to step aside until the case was determined.