UDS Lecturer Petitions GTEC Board Over Unlawful Demotion And Salary Reversal, Accuses Director-General Of Abuse Of Office And Selective Justice

TAMALE – A Lecturer at the University for Development Studies (UDS) has filed a formal petition with the Board of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), accusing the Director-General, Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, the Deputy Director-General, Professor Augustine Ocloo, and the Director of Finance, Mr. Frank Nketiah, of abuse of administrative procedures, violation of natural justice, and selective application of regulatory authority in a matter that led to his unlawful demotion and attempted salary reversal.

Mr. Hardi Shahadu, a Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at UDS, says the Commission not only issued a directive on 5th March 2026 ordering the university to strip him of his rank as Lecturer and place him on the rank of Assistant Lecturer “with immediate effect,” but went further on 9th March 2026 to write directly to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to reverse his salary, bypassing the university entirely and before the university had even responded to any of the Commission’s letters.

GTEC Contradicts Its Own Records
At the heart of the petition is what Mr. Shahadu describes as a startling contradiction within GTEC’s own records. In a letter dated 16th December 2025, GTEC told the Vice Chancellor of UDS that its records show Mr. Shahadu “does not have a researched master’s degree.”

However, Mr. Shahadu’s petition reveals that GTEC itself had evaluated his MSc in Media, Communication and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science in October 2021, and concluded in an official report that the research component of his degree was “adequate” and that it “qualified as a research degree.” That evaluation report was signed by none other than Dr. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai — the same official who, now as Director-General, signed the December 2025 letter claiming the opposite.

Mr. Shahadu states in the petition: “The question therefore arises: did the Commission actually consult its own records before making the contrary assertion, or had the Commission already predetermined the outcome it wished to achieve?”

Denied the Right to Be Heard
The petition further alleges that throughout the entire process — spanning three letters from GTEC to UDS between December 2025 and March 2026 — Mr. Shahadu was never informed of the proceedings against him, never copied on any correspondence, and never given an opportunity to respond to the allegations. The demotion directive was issued while the university had not even responded to GTEC’s enquiries, a fact GTEC itself acknowledged in its 5th March letter.

“Doesn’t natural justice require that I be informed about decisions and actions that have direct bearing on my life and livelihood?” Mr. Shahadu asks in the petition.

Allegation of Selective Justice and Personal Vendetta

Perhaps the most explosive aspect of the petition is the allegation that GTEC’s actions are being driven not by its regulatory mandate, but by the personal interests of a third party: Mr. Seth Mahama Sayibu, the petitioner’s Head of Department at UDS, who Mr. Shahadu alleges has a personal relationship with the Director-General.

The petition meticulously documents a pattern of differential treatment between how GTEC handled the petition filed against Mr. Shahadu and how it handled the counter-petition Mr. Shahadu filed against Mr. Mahama Sayibu on 7th January 2026. The disparities include:

Speed: GTEC wrote three letters and issued a demotion directive against Mr. Shahadu within three months, but has never followed up on his own petition despite the response deadline having long expired.

Identity protection: The identity of the person who petitioned against Mr. Shahadu was concealed, but Mr. Shahadu’s identity as petitioner was revealed and his entire petition was attached and released to the university.

Level of addressee: Letters against Mr. Shahadu were sent to the Vice Chancellor; the letter on his petition was sent to the Registrar — a lower-ranking officer.

Enforcement: The demotion directive copied the Auditor General and Controller and Accountant General, signalling maximum pressure. No comparable enforcement action has been taken on Mr. Shahadu’s petition.

GTEC Abandoned Its Own Letter
The petition also observes that GTEC’s subsequent letters of 12th February 2026 and 5th March 2026 made no reference whatsoever to the Commission’s earlier letter of 16th December 2025. Mr. Shahadu argues this reveals that the Commission realised its December letter was contradicted by its own records and could not support its predetermined agenda, prompting it to effectively restart the case with fresh allegations and a new framing.

GTEC Bypassed the University to Reverse Salary

In what Mr. Shahadu describes as the most egregious action, GTEC wrote directly to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department on 9th March 2026, signed by Mr. Frank Nketiah, Director of Finance (For: Director General), requesting that his salary be reversed from “Lecturer (Non-PhD) to Assistant Lecturer.” This was done just four days after the demotion directive, well before the university’s compliance deadline of 20th March 2026, and before the university had responded to any of GTEC’s three letters.

The petition reveals that GTEC’s own Payroll Processing Section was unable to effect the salary change because the MDA position control requirement on the system prevented it. The Commission therefore sought the CAGD’s direct intervention to circumvent the system, demonstrating, according to Mr. Shahadu, the extraordinary lengths to which the Commission was willing to go to execute the demotion, bypassing both established payroll procedures and the employing university.

False Claim of Investigation
Particularly troubling, according to the petition, is that GTEC told the Controller and Accountant General that the salary reversal was “in compliance with an investigation by the Commission regarding his qualifications.” Mr. Shahadu argues that no such investigation has taken place, noting that the Commission’s own letters to the university indicated it was still seeking information to make a determination. The petition describes this as constituting a false representation to a statutory institution in order to achieve a predetermined aim.

UDS Vice Chancellor Defends Appointment, Says Demotion Would Breach Contract

On the same date that GTEC wrote to the CAGD to reverse Mr. Shahadu’s salary, the Vice Chancellor of UDS, Professor Seidu Al-hassan, wrote to GTEC defending Mr. Shahadu’s appointment. The Vice Chancellor’s response set out five key facts: that Mr. Shahadu was initially appointed as a Principal Research Assistant; that GTEC’s own evaluation classified his MSc as a research degree; that he was accordingly appointed Assistant Lecturer in October 2021; that his appointment was confirmed and he was upgraded to Lecturer in December 2024; and that GTEC itself only wrote in July 2025 stating the minimum requirement for Lecturer is a PhD, meaning Mr. Shahadu was appointed as Lecturer before the Commission’s own directive on the matter.

The Vice Chancellor concluded that the university finds it difficult to place Mr. Shahadu on the rank of Assistant Lecturer, since doing so would breach the provisions of his employment contract. This response, the petition notes, exposes the prematurity of GTEC’s actions, as the Commission had already taken steps to execute the demotion through the CAGD on the very same day the university was responding.

Petition Copied to the Presidency, Minister, CHRAJ, and Others

The petition, addressed to the Board Chairman of GTEC, Professor Mahama Duwiejua, and the members of the Board, has been copied to the Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana, the Hon. Minister for Education, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Auditor-General, the Controller and Accountant-General, UDS Council Chairman, the Vice Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of UDS, the Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at both the national and UDS local levels.

Mr. Shahadu has also expressly reserved his right to seek legal redress at any point, including judicial review, without further notice to the Commission.

Background
Mr. Hardi Shahadu holds an MSc in Media, Communication and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, UK. He was appointed as a Principal Research Assistant at UDS on 4th February 2021, as the university initially considered the MSc to be a non-research degree. However, following GTEC’s own evaluation in October 2021, which classified the MSc as comparable to a research degree, he was appointed Assistant Lecturer on 31st October 2021. His appointment was confirmed and he was upgraded to Lecturer on 16th December 2024, through the university’s established appointments and promotions processes. Notably, GTEC itself only wrote to universities on 31st July 2025 stating that the minimum requirement for the rank of Lecturer is a terminal degree (PhD), meaning Mr. Shahadu’s appointment as Lecturer predated this directive by over a year and a half.

The matter appears to have been triggered by a dispute with his Head of Department, Mr. Seth Mahama Sayibu, in December 2025, following which Mr. Mahama Sayibu petitioned GTEC regarding Mr. Shahadu’s appointment. Mr. Shahadu subsequently filed a counter-petition with GTEC on 7th January 2026, requesting an investigation into potential irregularities in Mr. Mahama Sayibu’s own employment and promotion at UDS.

MEDIA CONTACT
Hardi Shahadu
Lecturer, Department of Journalism and Media Studies

Faculty of Communication and Media Studies
University for Development Studies, Nyankpala Campus

Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0246832847
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