The unending drama at the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) has turned another page, with several observers wondering what is next.
The Regent of Sumbrungu, Aaron Aberese, and several residents of the area have vowed to henceforth prevent the vice-chancellor, Prof. Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, from entering the campus to conduct the university’s affairs.
The declaration, made at the regent’s office, comes after the Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, held a crisis meeting on the campus where his post-meeting speech left the regent and his people unhappy.
Before the meeting started on Wednesday, 14 January 2025, some Sumbrungu residents succeeded in blocking the vice-chancellor from going into the campus to attend it.
After the meeting ended, Jinapor came out of the conference room and, referring to the protesters, told journalists waiting on the university’s premises: “I can tell you on authority, if you ask them what is ‘leave’, they don’t even know what leave is. If you ask them, how does [sic] people take leave, they wouldn’t even know.”
The “leave” Jinapor mentioned pertains to the circular the university’s governing council had issued a month earlier, informing the university community that the council had directed the vice-chancellor to proceed on his accrued annual leave.
He also told newsmen the protest that saw angry residents block the vice-chancellor from attending the crisis meeting was triggered by the “supposed letter” written by the university’s governing council.
Watch the video below:
The regent’s statement
Those who are calling for the vice-chancellor’s removal and investigation are many, but only a few were present to block him from joining Wednesday’s meeting.
Two things accounted for the slim turnout, according to sources: the meeting was not expected on the day it happened and it coincided with another crucial meeting being held in the community on the progress of the Bolgatanga Airport Project.
Speaking after Jinapor’s interview with the media, the regent clarified that the protest waged by the community against the vice-chancellor on Wednesday was not about the governing council’s leave letter but about his alleged actions against the community.
He accused the vice-chancellor of disrespect towards the community’s traditional authorities and failure to account for some funds meant for some farmers who reportedly leased several acres of their land to the university for expansion purposes.
“We will not allow you to be insulting our leaders, insulting the chiefs. No respect. We will not,” the regent stated, referring to the vice-chancellor.
He also condemned Jinapor’s statement: “The officer (Jinapor) who came should have taken his time to even come and see the youth [to find out] whether things are moving well. We are not happy with the response that he gave.”
Shifting attention back to the vice-chancellor, he said his every move would be followed in the vicinity to ensure he did not gain access to the campus.
“Now that we have realised that they are not taking the community serious [sic], we will also go to the school and make sure that that man (the vice-chancellor) will not enter.
“We don’t want to see him again. We will be watching and we will be monitoring him. If we see him there, we will come and block the gate. He won’t enter,” he affirmed.
Watch the video below:
Background of Council-GTEC conflict
A circular surfaced on Monday, 15 December 2025. It was written by the governing council and addressed to the university community.
In the circular, the council said they had taken a decision that the vice-chancellor should proceed on his accumulated one-year leave, running from December 19, 2025, to December 18, 2026.
The memo, signed by the chairman of the council, Dr Bishop Amigya-Bia Akolgo, also stated that the university’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Peter Osei Boamah, had been appointed as Acting Vice-Chancellor from 19th December, 2025, until further notice.
It added that Richard Abugre Atia, Acting Registrar, had been confirmed as substantive Registrar effective January 1, 2026.
In a swift attempt to turn things around, Jinapor wrote a letter, directing the university’s governing council to suspend the decisions. He said the decisions were “potentially problematic” and could “create unforeseen negative consequences”.
Responding to his directive, the governing council issued another letter, making it clear that the decisions were irreversible— unchangeable— and would stand.
The council ended the letter by urging the university community, including staff and students, to stay calm and carry on with their duties.
Entering the fray as the conflict deepened, a number of senior lecturers at some universities in Ghana openly stated that GTEC had no authority to “direct” university governing councils on governance affairs.
But bent on reversing the council’s decisions, Jinapor called for a meeting with the council on the university’s main campus at Sumbrungu, a suburb of the Upper East Region’s capital, Bolgatanga, on Wednesday. And speaking to the press minutes after the protest-rocked crisis meeting, he maintained that the council’s decisions were “illegal”.
The fate of the vice-chancellor is still hanging. Before Wednesday’s protest emerged, some staff of the government-owned university, Sumbrungu residents and the Bolgatanga Traditional Council had lodged separate petitions with the governing council against him.
The council says it will soon issue a communiqué on a report submitted by a committee commissioned to look into the petitions. Many suspect that Jinapor’s spin on the matter is just a sneaky way to insulate the vice-chancellor from accountability.
The author of this report tried reaching the vice-chancellor on Friday, 16 January 2025, for his comment on the allegations before publishing this story today (Sunday).
He did not respond to calls made to his phone numbers. This writer further typed a request to him via Short Message Service (SMS) and WhatsApp for his response to the accusations. Blue ticks showed that he read the WhatsApp message on Friday, but no response was given to both the SMS and the WhatsApp messages before press time was due today.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana/West Africa
