Kufuor goofs in Legon appointment

.Contravenes Statutes, Constitution
.Exposes Vars to another legal battle15

Some lecturers of the premier university, University of Ghana, Legon, were awoken to a rude shock on Monday, reading from a national daily that Mr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has been appointed by President J. A. Kufuor as the Chairman of the University Council. The apprehension is not that Mr. Oteng-Gyasi is unfit for that office; the President, simply goofed in appointing him, as the Constitution of the Republic restrains him from extending his powers of appointment of public officers to a body of higher education, research or professional training.

Article 195 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states that

‘Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the power to appoint persons to hold or to act in an office in the public services shall vest in the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the governing council of the service concerned given in consultation with the Public Services Commission.’

Also, section 2 of the same article states,

‘The President may, subject to such conditions as he may think fit, delegate some of his functions under this article by directions in writing to the governing council concerned or to a committee of the council or to any member of that governing council or to any public officer.’

However, section 3 of Article 195 takes away the powers of the President in appointing officers to act in institutions of higher learning. The relevant provision reads:

‘The power to appoint persons to hold or act in an office in a body of higher education, research or professional training, shall vest in the council or other governing body of that institution or body.’

If these Constitutional provisions are not clear enough, the Statutes of the University of Ghana (2004) removes all doubts. Article 5 (1) of the statutes on the appointment of the chairman states,

‘There shall be a chairman of the Council who shall be appointed by the Chancellor in consultation with the Executive Committee of the Academic Board.’

Incontrovertible information available to The Chronicle suggests that the Executive Committee of the University, which last met sometime in May, has never discussed the subject of the appointment of a chairman since the demise of Oyeeman Nana Wereko Ampem II.

Even though the outgoing chairman was appointed by the NDC government sometime in the 1990s, his tenure was renewed by the Kufuor administration to end in 2005. However, together with the three other government appointees on the Council, they were asked to stay on following the examination and grade-fixing scandals that the University was enmeshed in.

But the present apprehension stems from the university’s recent losses in court matters to both students and academic staff on procedural grounds. The most recent was the High Court’s decision faulting the University for not following laid down procedure in severing its relationship with the former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. E. Ofori-Sarpong, and the Head of Philosophy Department, Prof Kwasi Agyemang, therefore directing their return to office.

The 13-member Council has four government representatives, namely; Mr. Ishmael Yamson, Mr. Sam Aboah, His Eminence Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson and Mrs. M. Blay, who was recently appointed as Ghana’s Ambassador to Sierra Leone.

Even though the President’s position does not grant him the power to appoint the chairman, he could still lobby Council through the government representatives.