Re - Prof. Avea Nsoh Exposed I & II

The Author

My attention has been drawn to two articles in modernghana.com with the above headings written by one Mr. Alhassan Salifu Bawah of the University of Education impugning my person in an effort to respond to an article I wrote in relation to the update I provided on the University of Education issue. The two articles were mostly made up of the trumped-up charges levelled against me by Prof. Afful-Broni, the “New” Vice-Chancellor. Let me once again assure my students, staff, colleagues, friends and relations that I am completely innocent of those charges.

Ordinarily, I should not be responding to writings of Mr. Alhassan Salifu Bawah because anybody looking at the nature and tone of the two articles and knows me or have read his previous articles on the University of Education issue will know the lies he spews out. If you have also read my previous article to which he is purporting to be responding to, you will definitely not take him serious. I had also withheld my response to his articles for some other reasons. First, I had been invited to meet a Board and I did not find it appropriate to pre-empt what I might be presenting to the Board. Second, I also realized he was serializing the allegations and it was only wise to wait for the concluding part to determine whether or not to respond.

It is common knowledge that Mr. Alhassan Salifu Bawah (who has made himself the unofficial Registrar of UEW) writes for Rev. Prof. Aafful-Broni, the “New” Vice Chancellor, and some members of Council. The Council Chair regularly remits Mr. Bawah’s articles to my friends anytime he writes. Only a few months ago, Ms. Shine Lilian Agbevivi was dismissed from the University because she had purportedly forwarded some messages on social media about the Council Chair and Rev Prof Afful-Broni. Mr. Alhassan Salifu Bawah writes regularly to insult anyone perceived as against the illegal appointment of Afful-Broni as Ag. Vice-Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor and supporting the return of Prof Avoke.

For instance, he has attacked Prof. Raymond Atuguba, lawyer of Prof. Mawutor Avoke, the substantive Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education in a number of insulting articles, characteristic of him. He has also questioned Prof. Atuguba’s credentials as a lawyer. Prof. Atuguba is not just a Doctor and Professor of law, he is a law lecturer in no less a University as the University of Ghana and he is respected internationally as a reputed lawyer. Yet, this young man who joined the University of Education only four years ago and teaches law to business students (not to law students, and of course without a terminal degree), has not been called to the Bar (not to talk of winning a case in any court; not even at the Winneba High Court), has the audacity to insult an accomplished lawyer.

But that is not all. He also attacked Prof. Kwesi Yankah, the Minister of State-in-charge of Tertiary Education for a comment he made on CitiFm that Prof. Afful-Broni’s appointment could be illegal because the appointment of a Vice-chancellor required elaborate processes. It is unfortunate that someone who once made noise that someone was appointed by a defunct council today sees nothing wrong with the ‘selection’ of a VC with neither an Advertisement nor search committee. Prof. Kwesi Yankah was Pro-VC for two terms at the University of Ghana and the President (Vice-Chancellor) of Central University College before becoming a Minister of State, again in charge of Tertiary Education, under which Afful-Broni works as Vice-Chancellor. In fact, the Council which has been so supportive of Afful-Broni, was facilitated and sworn in by the same Prof. Yankah, who has suddenly become his enemy because he has said the obvious that the appointment of Afful-Broni did not follow due process.

I have had to write a personal letter copied to the then Ag. Vice-Chanellor, Prof. Afful-Broni to caution him on some of the writings he was doing which impugned on the credibility of some senior members. Others like Dr. Harry Agbanu, Dr. Ahmeed A. Jinapor, Dr. Anthony Baabayir, Dr. Samuel Atintono, Dr. Ofori Bekoe, Dr. Frimpong Duku (Kaakyire), Prof. Mawutor Avoke (VC), Dr. Senyo Ackorley and such other distinguished personalities have all been ridiculed, insulted and maligned in several of his articles because they have at one time or the other questioned the legibility of the Afful-Broni to ascend the throne as Ag. Vice-Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor.

The list is endless. So, you see why I should not be responding to him and why it took me so long to respond to him? Nonetheless, there are still persons who read his strange articles and could easily fall prey to them if they do not understand and appreciate Mr. Bawah, his writings and the context and bases for which he writes. Mr. Bawah’s main problem is that he knows very little about the people he so blindly supports and even those he maligns. He only seems satiated with his appointment as Director of Basic Schools which is rewarding enough for him to attack senior members of the University. I have known and worked with the Council Chair for more than 26 years and the “New” Vice-Chancellor, Prof Afful-Broni for about 16 years. Mr. Bawah only knew them when the University of Education issue erupted in 2017. The elders in my community say the fly that refuses counsel and descends with the corpse into the grave, ends up being buried with it.

Now, with regard to the allegations, anybody who has read them knows that they are trumped-up charges which only exist in the minds of Alhassan Salifu Bawah and our boss, Prof. Afful-Broni. Let me briefly illustrate why no one should take those allegations by Prof. Afful-Broni serious. I am going to use sections of these two articles which were basically the allegations levelled against me which Mr. Bawah believes hook, line and sinker. For instance, in which University in this world do you suspend a Professor on tenure and a Principal who has been working in a university since its inception because he has not attended a matriculation ceremony or a Congregation Session? In any case, I have attended many more such functions than the “New” Vice-Chancellor because we started the University of Education about ten clear years before his appearance on the scene as a Chaplain. Again, why is it a crime to attend court hearings as Principal if my University has been dragged to court mostly as a result of the actions of Prof. Afful-Broni? Has he sanctioned all other officials who have been to court since 2017 when the University was taken to the Winneba High court by a citizen of Winneba? My only crime is that I am perceived as supporting Prof. Avoke (VC), so I should be singled out and punished. These are just a tip of the ice-berg. When the Board finally comes out with its report, I shall present a very detailed and critical analysis of the charges, some of which could shock Mr. Bawah himself to the bones.

As an update to students, staff, colleagues, friends and relations, I wish to briefly state what has happened so far on the UEW issue. I gave skeletal written responses to the Board. However, my lawyers advised against appearing to respond in person to allegations because the Board was not properly constituted according to the Statutes of the University. My lawyer and I, therefore, only appeared as a sign of respect to the Board and the University Council which constituted it and to inform them that we could not continue with the meeting for reasons we had already stated in a letter sent to them earlier.

As I promised in my last write-up, I shall continue to update you on the real issues on the ground which have been hidden from the public because of the culture of silence on the four campuses of the University of Education, Winneba.

It’s a sad story!!!
Prof. Avea Nsoh
College of Languages Education
University of Education
Winneba.