Sunyani Technical University Pro-VC Sued For ‘Fake’ PhD

THE Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Pro-VC) of the Sunyani Technical University (STU), Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah, has been sued at the Commercial Court of the Sunyani High Court for academic dishonesty.

The plaintiff, Charles Addo Odokyi of Sunyani, an old student of the university, is seeking among other reliefs, an injunction against the defendant from holding himself as a PhD holder, and further prevent him from carrying himself as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Joined to the suit is Dr. Agyeman Boakye, the Council Chairman for STU and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) in Accra, the supervising agency of technical universities.

GTEC is joined to the suit for alleged failure in its oversight responsibility of the STU by failing to hold the university to account to its (GTEC) harmonised statutes, thereby allowing Korantwi-Barimah to engage in academic dishonesty for the period he held himself as a professor and acted as Pro-VC and substantive Pro-VC of the university.

The suit, filed on August 29, 2024, was heard on September 5, 2024 but adjourned to October 26, 2024.

According to the suit, ‘Dr’ Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah was awarded a degree of Doctor Technologiae in Human Resource Management by Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa, and evaluated by the GTEC to be comparable to a doctoral degree in a relevant subject area awarded by any recognised tertiary education institution in Ghana.

The plaintiff contended that the above qualification is different from and not equal to a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), which is part of harmonised statutes requirements by the GTEC to become a professor or associate professor to enable one to act as a Pro Vice-Chancellor or a Vice Chancellor of a technical university in Ghana, in this case the Sunyani Technical University.

The plaintiff is, therefore, praying the court to prevent Mr. Korantwi-Barimah from carrying himself as an associate professor as well as declare his promotion from senior lecturer to associate professor in 2020 by the university council chaired by the council chairman, Dr. Agyeman Boakye, as null and void.

The plaintiff is also seeking the court, presided over by Justice Joyce Boahen, to declare Korantwi-Barimah as not academically qualified to have acted in that position from September 2016 to August 31, 2021.

Charles Addo Dokyi is again seeking the court to further declare that Dr. Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah is not academically qualified to hold the position of a Pro-VC from September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024.

Furthermore, he wants the court to declare the first defendant as not being eligible for re-appointment as the Pro-VC when his current tenure expires on August 31, 2024.

Additionally, the plaintiff prays the court to declare the appointing board of the Sunyani Technical University decision to be in variance with the harmonised statutes of the GTEC.

Again, the plaintiff pleads with the court to order Dr. Solomon Korantwi-Barimah to refund all salaries, entitlements and emoluments paid to him from 2016 to 2021 when he dishonestly acted as a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the university.

He is also praying the court to order the first defendant to refund all salaries, entitlements emoluments paid to him from September 1, 2021 to date.

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