An Accra High Court, has ruled that the purported removal from office of Dr Wilberforce S. Dzisah, as the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) was wrong and unlawful.
The court presided over by Justice Frank Aboagye Rockson, had consequently directed that he be paid all his entitlements at the current bank rate with interest for the remainder of his unexpired fixed term as Rector of the country’s premier journalism school.
In a judgement delivered by the High Court (Labour Division- – Court 1), the judge also directed the institute to pay Dr. Dzisah additional six-months salary at the prevailing interest rate.
Justice Frank Aboagye Rockson, also ordered GIJ to pay Dr Dzisah his additional responsibility allowance of 20 percent (20%) as the Director of the Graduate School from 2013-2017 with interest.
The court further stated that his withheld responsibility and entertainment allowances for July-December 2016, as Rector as well as research and book allowances for 2017 be paid to him at the current bank rate of interest.
The court also slapped a cost of GHS25, 000.00 on GIJ.
It would be recalled that in March 2018, the Governing Council of GIJ then led by Prof. Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh and Dr Margaret Amoakohene among others.
Unwavering in the face of the lies, fabrications, and character assassination, the plaintiff initiated the legal action to right the wrong and to redeem his reputation as contained in Suit No. IL/0054/2018.
Excerpts from the judgement of the court showed that the defendant’s allegations of procurement infractions which were levelled against him by the Governing Council were not even mentioned in their defence before the court.
Indeed, Prof. Ansu-Kyeremeh, the then Chairman of Council told the court that they; they members of the Governing Council, had no report indicting the plaintiff before the court but just decided as a collective to get rid of him.
Dr. Dzisah is well noted for his transformational leadership culminating in the infrastructural developments and the facelift of GIJ.
According to close watchers of the fortunes of GIJ, they reasoned that it was Dr. Dzisah who pioneered the Institute’s graduate school with four postgraduate programmes in 2014 as both Rector and Acting Director of the School of Graduate Studies and Research.
He introduced the weekend graduate school which was highly patronised and became the cash cow of the Institute during his tenure.
What is more, they claimed that he managed to increase the enrolment of students from 800 to 4200 as at the time he was hounded out.