The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has responded to recent comments made by former President Jerry John Rawlings on the occasion of the commemoration of the 31st December 1981 revolution.
Mr Rawlings had called for the immediate interdiction of the Vice Chancellor, Reverend Professor Anthony Afful-Broni, whom he accused of trampling on the rights of some other senior members of the university.
“From the records of EOCO and other state agencies, the affected individuals were exonerated as there was no evidence of misconduct established against them,” the former president told a gathering at Winneba in the Central Region.
“Ironically, the current Vice Chancellor who was indicted in the same report still remains at post.”
But the University said the country’s longest serving head of state may have gotten his facts wrong.
“Indeed, the ex-President, in similar remarks a couple of months ago, waded into the issue from same ill-informed position and we, through our Public Relations Office, accordingly responded by educating him on the facts regarding the very issue he sought to bring into the public domain,” a statement issued on Wednesday said.
Signed by the Registrar, Paul Osei-Barima, the statement said even the tenure of office of the former Vice Chancellor, Professor Mawutor Avoke, whose interest the former president is seeking, ended officially and effectively on September 30, 2019.
It added that the EOCO report to which Mr Rawlings made reference “clearly seems not to exist in form or character”.
“It is one huge hoax being perpetrated by some disgruntled and mischief-seeking individuals of the public who have succeeded in misleading the former President into a grand design of deception.”
It said the university never applied to the Economic and Organised Crime Office nor any state agency to have it investigated.
“EOCO has not submitted any report to the University,” it stressed.
The statement asked members of the public, particularly statesmen, to exercise their rights to freedom of speech “with decorum, dedication, honesty and truthfulness and within the ambit of all the laws, rules and regulations necessary for the smooth and effective management and administration of our University”.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana