<<Print>>Press Aide to Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Kofi Abrefa Afena has debunked reports alleging a wrongdoing on the part of Energy Minister and former Minister for Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, in the matter of the appointment Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot and Dr. Vincent A. Ankamah -Lomotey as Vice Chancellor and Registrar respectively of the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences in the Upper East Region.
Mr. Afena said the reports are purely based on mischief and intentionally skewed to sully the image of the Minister.
According to him, a Minister is not the appointing authority of officers of a public University but rather the University Council.
However, the first appointments of any new public University are done by the President of the Republic and this include the appointments of foundation governing Councils, he expounded.
“So, in the instant case of CKT-UTAS appointments, the situation was no different. You can check this incontrovertible fact from UG, KNUST, UENR, UESD and indeed, all public universities”, he stressed.
Addressing the issue of the post-retirement appointment accusations of the CKT-UHAS appointees against Dr. Prempeh, Mr. Afena described same as having no basis in truth and lacking logic because when the two people were appointed, they were not retirees.
“In July 2021, when the officers reached their retirement age, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh was no more Minister for Education, at which time there was now a university council fully in place with legal capacity to be able toremedy the situation", he added, asking "so, on what grounds, do you accuse Matthew Opoku Prempeh of even the slightest of wrong doing or of something illegal or untoward?"
He continued; “Let people in positions be responsible for their actions without apportioning baseless blames on others."
Mr. Afena also rubbished the publications saying they were part of a grand scheme by the Energy Minister’s detractors to cause public disaffection for him.
This response from the Energy Minister’s outfit, according to the Press Aide, is necessary because of deliberate spins around a court ruling by a Bolgatanga High Court terminating the appointments of Prof. Wilmot and Dr. Ankamah-Lomotey.