UTAG-COLTEK, CAGRIC Want Akufo-Addo To Appoint Internal VC For AA-USTED

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) of the College of Technology Education, Kumasi (COLTEK) and the College of Agriculture Education (CAGRIC) are pushing for the appointment of an internal person to be appointed as Vice Chancellor for Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AA-USTED).

This is after the Ashanti Regional-based institution became a full University last month following the approval of Parliament on the back of the passing into law the University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development Bill.

Since then, the issue of who is going to be appointed as the Vice-chancellor for AA-USTED has had attention with some opinion pieces by one Asare Kingsley on Modernghana.com alleging that the expected appointment has created tension between the leaders of COLTEK and that of CAGRIC.

But in a joint statement from the UTAG-COLTEK and UTAG-CAGRIC, the claims are false while insisting that the two educational institutions have always had good relations and continue to thrive under its respective leaders.

“First of all, we wish to emphatically state that the publications making rounds are deliberate, ill-intentioned and mischievously motivated to deceive the President of the Republic of Ghana, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Honourable Minister for Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, and the general public in matters relating to COLTEK and CAGRIC. The claims in the publications are unscientific, unacademic, and a complete figment of the faceless author’s own imagination”, part of the joint press release from UTAG-COLTEK and UTAG CAGRIC reads.

The two groups have opposed the idea of appointing an external vice chancellor for the Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development.

According to them, COLTEK and CAGRIC have the men to occupy the position and one should be appointed by the president.

“To put it in plain language, our greatest expectation is that the President will appoint one of our own to head AA-USTED”, another portion of the press statement reads.

It continued, “Appointing a Vice Chancellor from the tried and tested existing academic and leadership structures of COLTEK and CAGRIC will consolidate the significant gains made in TVET education over the years and ensure that there is absolute peace and harmony on all the campuses of the new University for a smooth academic work”.

Read the full press release below: