Some members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the University of Education Winneba are demanding the resignation of their national president, Dr Eric Opoku Mensah over claims he incited the protest that turned violent early this month.
What started as a peaceful protest by students of UEW to get their sacked lecturers reinstated turned violent on March…after the police fired teargas and warning shots to push back the protestors.
Some students were injured in the protest that resulted in destruction of the university’s properties leading to the immediate shut down of Winneba and Ajumako campuses of the institution.
According to the UTAG members at UEW, Dr Opoku Mensah was the one who incited students to escalate their protest to the level of violence.
They claimed the national executives did not consult the local members at UEW before proceeding to hold a news conference that demanded for the resignation of the vice chancellor Rev Fr Prof Anthony Afful-Broni.
Addressing journalists Thursday, the UEW members described Dr Opoku Mensah as hypocrites because they did not accord the same support they gave to the vice chancellor and governing council of KNUST.
“In the KNUST saga…UTAG ran to the defence of the Governing Council and Vice Chancellor when attempts were made to ask the latter to resign. UTAG tagged some of the calls as political interference and fiercely resisted it,” a senior lecturer at UEW Dr. Eric Sakyi Nketsia said.
He said UTAG national executives’ call on the UEW Council Chair, Prof Emmanuel Nicholas Abakah and Vice Chancellor, Rev Fr Prof Anthony Afful-Broni to resign is frivolous, baseless and without any due regard.
He claimed accusation by Dr Opoku Mensah that the UEW’s Governing Council has not heeded to calls for reconciliation is a misrepresentation and distortion of facts.
The UTAG members at UEW are contending their national executives do not have the locus to speak on the current developments at UEW, urging the vice chancellor and council chair to remain at post, maintain their mature composure and help steer the affairs of the university.
“We wish to state categorically that UTAG national executives do not have the locus to speak on the current developments at UEW as they purport to do in as much as they forfeited that locus and power through an abdication of their responsibility to consult us on current matters in which we have the greatest interest,” Dr Nketsia said.
By Lucy Ayambilla|3news.com|Ghana