Afenyo-Markin justifies continuous involvement in UEW affairs

Effutu Member of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has defended his unceasing involvement in the affairs of the University of Education, Winneba.

According to him, his interest in the institution is borne out of the strategic place the school holds in the entire development process of his constituency.

He has been accused of meddling in the affairs of the school, with some blaming him for the unrest by students which resulted in the closure of the university.

But speaking to the press, Afenyo Markin said his interest is for peace to prevail in the school so as to positively affect the development of his constituents.

“I was born in Winneba, I grew up there, I still live there. If you go out and cross the Taxi rank and go to the seashore, that is where you see real poverty, so when we are making the noise it is peculiar to us. I think one means of addressing it for the benefit of student, the community is to engage the university and I will be consistent, if I leave the scene and anybody else takes up the seat and decides that see no evil, hear no evil, I would not talk about UEW, I would want to lead UEW as an MP minus the University, that is the person’s choice,” he said.

Raymond Atuguba has attributed the school’s troubles to the lawsuit Afenyo Markin and his client filed at the High Court to hound the former UEW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mawutor Avoke out of office.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr Atuguba insisted that the suit, filed at the Winneba High Court initiated the recent troubles.

“We didn’t have all these problems until Afenyo Markin and Supi Kofi Kwayera begun this whole suit. That is what has brought us to this point. He caused this initiate the feud in the Winneba High Court and this has brought this disastrous ball in motion,” he said.

Background

The Winneba High Court in 2017 ordered Prof Avoke, to step aside until the case brought against him and the University’s Governing Council was determined.

The case brought before the court by one Supi Kofi Kwayera, who insisted that the Vice Chancellor and the Finance Officer, were operating under the institution’s defunct governing council.

The plaintiff argued that 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 whatsoever to continue in the functions of a properly constituted Governing Council.

Supi Kofi Kwayera also alleged financial and procurement irregularities on the part of the Prof Avoke.

The court, in July 2017,  then ordered Prof Avoke to step aside until a case brought against him and the University’s Governing Council was determined.

Also that July, Prof Avoke, along with four others; the Finance Officer, Dr. Theophilus Senyo Ackorlie; Daniel Tetteh, Mary Dzimey and Frank Owusu Boateng, were interdicted by the school after it emerged that some vital documents at some offices at the centre of an ongoing investigation had disappeared.

They were then found guilty of procurement and other financial irregularities in December 2017.

The irregularities had to do with the monies paid to the contractors of the North Campus Roads project.

In August 2018, the UEW governing council dismissed the five principal officers of the institution after a fact-finding committee had been set up to look into the matter.

Prof. Afful Broni was subsequently inducted as the Vice-Chancellor of UEW.

Prof Avoke had maintained his innocence and successfully challenged his indictment in court.

source: citinewsroom.com