Tutors of the Bolgatanga Nursing Training College in the Upper East Region, have locked up the office of the school’s principal, Bawa Awula, over allegations of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds.
The tutors, who threatened to boycott lectures, are demanding that the principal steps aside to pave way for investigations into his conduct.
The tutors, numbering about 18, took a unilateral decision to lock up the office of the principal, Bawa Awula, accusing him of violating the Procurement Act in the procurement of goods and services as well as neglecting the plight of both lecturers and students.
A senior lecturer and convener of the lecturers, Mr. Edward Atiim, said “since the coming of our principal to Bolga Nursing Training College, he had indicated to us his vision, but it has been almost two years, but his vision has not materialized. First and foremost, he wanted to work from bottom-up, but we are not seeing that, procurement is ongoing without a procurement committee or board, and he’s not even taking the procurement procedures into consideration”.
“There are inadequate facilities in the school, yet we have been collecting development levy since 2008, and tutors allowances which are supposed to be paid are not being paid, and we think that these are reasonable enough for us(tutors) to be able to tolerate.”
“This has prompted us to lock up his office so that we all stay out of office until the authorities respond because we have served letters in respect of these issues to the acting head of Health training institutions, and copied the Regional Director of Health Services, the Upper East Regional Minister, the Minister for Health, and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO),” he said.
Some students who spoke to Citi News said, the situation, if not urgently dealt with, would affect their studies.
“I’m not happy about what is happening, so the authorities should address the issue so that we can get back to the classroom, because if the tutors embark on the sit down strike as threatened, it will affect our studies,” one of the students said.
Another student added that,”In our classrooms, we do not have sockets or enough furniture, which affects our studies, so we also want the school authorities to do something about it.”
When Citi News contacted the Principal, Bawa Awula for his side of the story, he said he was attending to some important meetings, and would respond at the appropriate time.
Supervision in nursing training colleges
It appears supervision in most of the country’s nursing training colleges is quite weak, a situation that allows a lot of improper practices spearheaded by principals and other officials to thrive.
This has in some cases led to the interdiction of some principals accused of wrongdoing, with the recent one being the Principal of Tepa Midwifery and Nursing.
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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana