The Yamfo Traditional Council, together with the teaching and non-teaching staff and students of the College of Health, Yamfo, in the Ahafo Region, has strongly opposed what they describe as a politically motivated leadership change at the institution.

They are calling on the Ministry of Health to retain the current Director, Dr Mohammed Ibrahim, whose leadership, they say, has transformed the College from near collapse into one of Ghana’s fastest-growing health training institutions.

Before Dr Ibrahim’s appointment, the College reportedly faced severe challenges, including court injunctions that halted examinations, unaccredited programmes, and a collapsing infrastructure.

Under his tenure, however, the institution has witnessed remarkable progress — expanding from four to seven accredited degree programmes and increasing enrollment from 600 to over 4,000 students.

The campus now boasts new hostel blocks, a perimeter wall, and improved learning facilities.

“We moved from no accreditation to becoming one of the most promising public health training colleges under the Ministry of Health,” a senior tutor said.

“Replacing a competent leader with a political appointee will destroy the gains we have made.”

The controversy erupted after the Ministry of Health reportedly reassigned Dr. Ibrahim to its headquarters without a defined role and appointed Dr. Christopher Bayere, a former parliamentary candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Techiman South, as Acting Director.

The Yamfo Traditional Council, led by Nana Ansah Nkrumah II, has since petitioned the Ministry of Health and the Ahafo Regional Minister, rejecting Dr. Bayere’s appointment.

In its petition, the Council stated that it “cannot work with a politically exposed person as the Director of the College,” describing Dr. Ibrahim as “a non-partisan professional whose competence and neutrality have restored pride and progress to Yamfo.”

Teaching and non-teaching staff also submitted separate petitions to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and other authorities, warning that political interference in academic institutions undermines morale and institutional credibility.

In an unexpected twist, members of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) of the NDC on campus publicly opposed the appointment of their own party’s former candidate.

“Even as TEIN members, we are uncomfortable,” said a local TEIN executive at a press conference on Sunday. “We believe in fairness, not favouritism. Dr Ibrahim’s record speaks for itself. If politics takes over our classrooms, the credibility of health education will vanish.”

The Yamfo Traditional Council, College staff, and student body have jointly appealed to President John Mahama and the Minister of Health to review the decision, insisting that Dr Ibrahim’s continuity is essential for the College’s stability and future accreditation renewals.

“If professionalism yields to partisanship,” one faculty member warned, “the damage will not just be to Yamfo — it will be to Ghana’s reputation for producing competent health professionals.”