William Atuguba sworn in as Chairman of Governing Council, University of Cape Coast

A former Supreme Court Judge, Justice William Atuguba, has been sworn in as the new Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Cape Coast.

He says under his leadership, the Council will fiercely protect the academic freedom of public universities and resist any attempt by government to interfere in their operations.

The swearing-in ceremony was conducted by the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, who also reaffirmed government’s commitment to non-interference in the affairs of universities.

He took a swipe at the previous administration, accusing it of attempts to undermine the autonomy of academic institutions.

“Be assured as I have continuously said that President Mahama will not interfere with the academic freedom in any university,” Mr Iddrisu assured.

Justice William Atuguba said he will resist any attempt by government to erode academic freedom.

“I am glad to hear the minister has assured that their government will not interfere with academic freedom, I wish to emphasize it is very important because after retirement I do follow national events on social media, on TV sometimes. And I dare say that when there were challenges in the administration of this country in academia, I spoke out and I am very proud of that and kept the country on course,” Mr Atuguba said.

He added that, “And so I am happy to hear of the promise to guarantee academic freedom and if you look at that closely it appears that sometime ago there were rumors. Well in Ghana rumors are not empty, there were executive attempts to intrude into and to erode academic freedom. I am happy with this present government posture on the matter, and I personally will strive to reinstate in full, academic freedom in this country.”

In a related development, the Education Minister later swore in the new Governing Council of the University of Professional Studies, Accra – UPSA.

Addressing members of the Council, Haruna Iddrisu expressed concern over tensions on campus and called for greater harmony to ensure a peaceful academic environment.

“Conflict between Council and Vice Chancellor is not healthy and cannot be healthy of an institution like UPSA. There may be systemic inefficiencies in the running of our public universities but at least we have addressed some of those issues including people questioning even the appointment of the Vice Chancellor and taking the matter to court. This must be an in-house matter. We all must have respect to due process and the rule of the law,” he advised.

Chairman of the new UPSA Council, Dr. Harry Agbanu, pledged to swiftly address misunderstandings between faculty and the Vice Chancellor.

“In spite of the numerous problems confronting the institution we are determined to work collaboratively to able to resolve these issues so UPSA can make a forward match with a certain determination,” he assured.

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