The Ministry of Education has dissolved the Governing Council of Wa Polytechnic, following a protracted litigation over a decision by the Council to extend the term of office of the Rector, Dr. Baba Issah.

Factions within the Governing Council have for many months been involved in a legal battle over the extension of the Rector’s initial four-year contract.

A three-member Interim Management Committee has been appointed to take over day-to-day management of the Polytechnic.

Members of the Committee are:

1. Professor Amin Alhassan - Chairman

Dean, Faculty of Agribusiness and Communication Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale

2. Mr. Chris Ackmann Ackumey - Member

Legal Practitioner

3. Mrs. Mary Agyepong - Member/Secretary

Former Registrar, Koforidua Polytechnic

The Interim Management Committee will also to take specific steps to restore normalcy in the governance of the Polytechnic within the next four months.

A statement from the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) – which recommended the dissolution of the Governing Council – said the protracted litigation has hampered administrative procedures and adversely affected teaching and learning at the Polytechnic, resulting in low staff and student morale.

“It also undermined the position of the Polytechnic in the on-going efforts to convert Polytechnics into Technical Universities”, NCTE said in a statement.

The Ministry of Education told Joy News it is hopeful the three-member Interim Management Committee will work to restore academic work at the Upper West Region polytechnic to normalcy.

It would be recalled that lecturers at the Polytechnic early this year declared a strike, demanding the removal of Chairman of the now dissolved Governing Council, Prof Jacob Sangsore, for failing to instate Dr Baba Issah.