By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE) has dissolved the Court of the University of Sierra Leone (USL) with immediate effect and nullified the appointment of Professor Mohamed Samai as Pro Vice Chancellor of USL and other posts held by other officials.
A letter addressed to the Chancellor of USL from MTHE dated 30th January 2024 informed that all decisions taken by the Court post-appointment of the Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Lawrence Kamara, are null and void. It stated the action is in consultation with the Tertiary Education Commission and to manage a transition, an Interim Management Committee will be installed soonest.
The ministry noted that after the enactment of the Universities Act of 2021, the Court of the USL failed to appoint a Pro-Vice Chancellor of the university as stipulated in sections of the said Act. It reminded the Chancellor that in the absence of the substantive Vice-Chancellor and Principal (VC&P), the Pro- Vice-Chancellor acts in their stead.
It recalled that on the appointment of the then substantive Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Foday Sahr as Executive Director of the National Public Health Agency, there was no Pro-vice Chancellor to act in his stead. It explained that the Minister of Technical and Higher Education consulted the Chancellor about the implications of the absence of a Pro-Vice-Chancellor and the urgent need to replace the erstwhile Vice-Chancellor and Principal.
“You reached a consensus with the minister for the latter to take appropriate action and keep you posted. Based on the aforementioned consultation, the ministry appointed Prof. Lawrence Kamara to fill the void and initiate action to recruit and cause the appointment of a substantive Vice-Chancellor and Principal for USL under Section 8 subsections (1) (2) and (3) of the Universities Act of 2021,” part of the letter reads.
The ministry expressed concern that the Court did not allow the appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal to function, and instead presided over the appointment of parallel Acting VC&P contrary to the agreement it had with the minister.
It recalled that several attempts have been made by the MTHE and more recently, the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Technical and Higher Education, to address the seeming impasse under review but to no avail.
The letter reminded the Chancellor to note that the calendar of events submitted to the ministry by the University Administration contained among other events the congregation ceremony of students scheduled to graduate at the end of the 2022/23 academic year. It explained that as per plan, the said ceremony was to be conducted during the third week of December 2023.
“Under your watch, the USL administration did not hold the ceremony because the Academic Staff Associations of the various public higher education institutions had issued an industrial strike notice in respect of their conditions of service,” it states.
It pointed out that the MTHE reached a negotiated settlement with the academic staff associations in time for the congregation to be conducted. It added that in the circumstance, the MTHE appealed to the USL Administration to respect their calendar and conduct the said ceremony because of the inherent implications for graduating students.
The Ministry expressed its surprise that the USL Administration did not countenance the appeals because the Court of the USL had taken a decision to defer the congregation ceremony to April 2024 and insisted that the ‘decision of the Court is sacrosanct’ and therefore could not negotiate any other date prior April 2024. It expressed that while the Court's ‘sacrosanctity’ on the issue persists to date, the MTHE is currently appealing to the graduates of the USL for the 2022/23 academic year to be patient.
The letter further indicated that under the Chancellor’s watch, the USL Administration deliberately levied high non-tuition fees with other charges on students without recourse to the supervising ministry and or the expressed approval by the USL Court.
The dissolution of the Court of the University of Sierra Leone by the Government through the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education came after it approved and ratified the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences Professor Mohamed Samai, as Pro Vice-Chancellor.
Copyright (c) 2024 (Politico 02/02/24)
