At a press conference in Winneba last Wednesday, the President of UTAG-UEW), Dr Samuel Ofori Bekoe, called on lawyers of the university to pursue the matter to get the injunction overturned and also explore the possibility of having the case heard even during the legal vacation period.

He said the council could also employ alternative dispute resolution processes to bring the matter to closure as well as act in all fairness to ensure that the two officers are eventually and expeditiously reinstated.

Withdraw letters

Dr Ofori Bekoe called on the council to also withdraw the letters directing the affected officers to submit handover notes and also hand over their official vehicles for fairness, peace and justice to prevail.

Dr Ofori Bekoe stated that the letter purporting to revoke the appointments of officers appointed by the vice chancellor to take office during the ensuing academic year should be immediately withdrawn to enable such officers to perform the duties for which they were appointed to enable the academic board to be properly constituted for its normal business.

Flawed

The UTAG-UEW President said the basis of the injunction order granted by the High Court was fundamentally and fatally flawed.

According to him, the officers had done nothing wrong in the circumstance to warrant their present predicament.

He indicated that under no circumstance in the current situation should the appointment of those officers be terminated and, therefore, urged the council to see to the resolution of the matter and reinstate them as soon as possible.

GUSS projects

Touching on the Ghana University Staff Superannuation Scheme (GUSS) projects, Dr Ofori Bekoe emphasised that the GUSS was a private pension scheme of some senior members of the university, and was a voluntary pension scheme into which members contributed 25 per cent of their basic salary every month with the hope of securing better pensions when they went on retirement.

He noted that the strike embarked upon by the UTAG of the UEW on July 14, 2017, which was subsequently endorsed by the National Executive Committee of UTAG, was still in force and it was to protest against the harm done to the pensions of its members by a non-contributor.