UCC Vice-Chancellor remains at post as High Court halts injunction

The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Johnson Nyarko Boampong, is to stay at post until a determination of an appeal challenging an injunction against his new tenure.

In a ruling last Tuesday, the High Court in Cape Coast granted a motion for stay of execution filed by lawyers of the VC.

What this means is that the injunction granted by the same High Court barring Prof. Boampong from holding office as the VC until the determination of a suit challenging his tenure has been put on hold.

The decision by the court, presided over by Justice John-Mark Nuku Alifo, means that until the appeal against the injunction is determined, Prof. Boampong will continue to hold office as the VC.

Again, pursuant to the decision, any attempt to remove the VC from office until the determination of the suit challenging his tenure will be null and void.

In September, the court granted an interlocutory injunction filed by one John Mevemeo, a resident of Millennium City-Kasoa in the Central Region, who challenged the legality of the renewal of the VC’s contract until 2026.

The import of the interlocutory inunction meant that Prof. Boampong could not hold himself as VC of UCC until the final determination of a suit challenging his renewed tenure.

Lawyers for the VC filed an appeal against the injunction, and as part of their case, also filed an application for stay of execution, which sought the suspension of the injunction until the determination of the appeal.

This was what was granted by the High Court  

Mr Mevemeo, in his substantive suit, is of the contention that the decision to renew Prof. Boampong’s tenure violated  Article 199(1) of the Constitution and statutes 8.15 and 8.16 of the UCC Statutes 2016, and, therefore, was null and void.

Briefing

Following the current High Court decision, a delegation from UCC led by the Provost of the College of Humanities of UCC, Prof. Kwame Osei Kwarteng, held a closed door meeting with the Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Ahmed Jinapor, in Accra to brief him.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, Prof. Kwarteng said the VC was currently not under any restriction to perform his duties.

 “He has been asked by the court to continue with his work and that is what our lawyers briefed the GTEC about and the GTEC was satisfied with it.

We cannot go into the merits of the case because it is a court ruling,” Prof. Kwarteng, who is a management member of the university, explained.

The Director of Legal at the Ministry of Education, Mathilda Azuimah, who spoke on behalf of the GTEC, explained that the management of the university was invited by the DG of GTEC to brief him and his team about the new development at the university.

“Fortunately for us, the VC’s lawyers filed an appeal against the ruling of the court together with a stay of execution of the ruling, and on October 8, 2024, fortunately again, this ruling for a stay was granted.

She said GTEC was satisfied with the briefing and the development so far in the university.
Asked when the VC was to resume, she said the directive was immediate, once the court had granted the stay, and so there was no time limit to that.