The Governing Council Chairman of the Bolgatanga Technical University, at an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, rubbished a mediation attempt by the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament in a matter that involved an attempt to remove the Vice Chancellor on grounds of alleged procurement breaches. On the 25th of May 2026, the Speaker of Parliament invited the University Council and the Vice Chancellor to his office to attempt a resolution of the matter. The Council Chairman, who, upon receipt of the letter, unilaterally decided that the invited Council members should not attend, but went to the meeting with uninvited Management members. However, Council members who got wind of the invitation and felt it would be disrespectful not to honor the Speaker’s invitation went to the meeting. It is reported that the Speaker asked the Council Chairman whether he wanted him to mediate and resolve the issue, and the Chairman answered in the affirmative. The Speaker again asked each Council member present the same question, and they all agreed to the same. After that meeting on the 25th May 2026, the Speaker wrote to the Council Chairman on the 4th June 2026 and reiterated his commitment to mediating an amicable resolution to the issue. However, it is reported that at a Council meeting held on the 9th June 2026, the Chairman and some members of the Council snubbed the Speaker’s intervention and considered the report of the Investigative Committee on alleged procurement breaches by the Vice Chancellor using irregular statutory provisions. At the beginning of the said meeting, some members objected to discussing the report since the matter was before the Speaker of Parliament and the Minister of Education, but the Chairman rubbished it.
The Minister of Education had earlier invited the Chairman of the Council, “Dr” Bishop Akolgo, alongside all the government appointees on the Council, the Management of BTU, and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, to a meeting in Accra on May 12, 2026. At the said meeting, the Minister placed a stay on the discussion of the report and stated that he was going to study the report himself and reconvene a meeting of all the stakeholders. That meeting has still not been convened.
It therefore came as a surprise to some members of the Council that, at the June 9, 2026, meeting the Council Chairman made a U-turn on the request of the speaker to mediate the matter. The meeting, however, proceeded to consider the report of the Investigative Committee. Some members of the Council raised concerns about procedural breaches, over-reach of the work of the Committee, and the lack of legal right of the Council to constitute a committee to investigate breaches of the procurement act. All these fell on the deaf ears of the Council Chairman.
It has been reported that there was a series of hot exchanges among members of the Council regarding the way the Council Chairman was conducting the meeting, very disrespectful and autocratic towards members. When it came to voting to either accept or reject or otherwise the recommendations of the Committee’s report, the Chairman told members that the voting was to be based on a simple majority instead of the 2/3 rd of the entire Council members. Statute 13 Section 16 clearly specifies this:
Council shall have the right to accept, partially accept, or reject the recommendations of the Committee, provided that no recommendation of the Committee may take effect unless it has been approved by a special resolution of Council supported by not less than two-thirds of the entire members of Council.
Statute 13, clearly states, among others, the processes leading to the removal of the Vice Chancellor, which also applies to other key officers of the University.
The Chairman of the Council mischievously went for status 8 Section 6:
‘Matters before Council shall be decided by a simple majority of the members present and voting, and in the event of equality of votes, the person presiding shall have a casting vote’.
This provision applies to deciding on any other matter before the Council besides the removal of the VC or a key officer. Most members insisted on voting in accordance with Statutes 13, section 16. However, the Chairman and his henchmen, fearing that they would not win based on Statute 13, Section 16, adopted a Machiavellian tactic by asking the members to vote on whether to adopt Statute 13, Section 16, or Statute 8, Section 6. Some members refused to vote and staged a walk-out. Their reason being that there is no ambiguity in Statute 13, and no provision has been made in the BTU Statutes to vote between the Statutes. The rest went ahead to vote for a simple majority, which the Chairman used in an attempt to remove the VC.
All these happenings attest to the fact that the Chairman and his henchmen are hell-bent on removing the VC by orchestrating breaches of the Procurement Act. Even old furniture donated to help needy basic schools within Bolgatanga is used against him. It began with asking the VC to go on accumulated leave for one year, which was stopped by GTEC, then later a directive to proceed on annual leave. Now it is alleged that the Director of Finance, Stephen Tobazaa, brought up this idea of procurement breaches against the VC because the VC had earlier, at a Council meeting to consider the appointment of the Director of Finance, indicated he could not work with him.
It is not surprising that the Investigative Committee’s report is nothing but a self-fulfilling prophecy, just to pin the VC, the Director of Procurement, and the Director of Works and Physical Development, and get them out of office, and then pave the way for looting the finances of the university, which has already started anyway, as the VC has been out of the office since 13th February. 2026.
The actions of the Council Chairman and his henchmen have brought the university to its knees. Currently, about 34 staff members of the university are facing disciplinary actions for engaging in a press conference that condemned the actions of the Council Chairman.
It stands to be seen how the Speaker of Parliament will react to this gross disrespect by the chairman “Dr” Bishop Akolgo.
upperwestmedia.net 
Leave a Reply