Prof. Kah, Vice Chancellor of University of The Gambia |
Magistrate Taiwo Ade Alagbe of the Banjul
Magistrates’ Court on 4th October delivered a judgment in the false
information trial involving Dr Gumbo Touray, former University of The Gambia Director of International Affairs. After a long period of trial punctuated by
legal arguments and counter arguments by the defence counsel and the state
prosecutor, the Magistrate did not found Dr Touray guilty of any wrongdoing by
writing a petition against the Vice Chancellor of the UTG, Professor Muhammadou
Kah, to the President Yahya Jammeh, the Chancellor of the University.
The Magistrate therefore acquitted and discharged Dr Touray accordingly. This is an indication that the allegation by
the State against Dr Touray for giving false information to a public officer
holds no water, unless they appeal the judgment of Magistrate Alagbe and
prove it otherwise.
In the petition to
President Jammeh, Dr Touray accused Prof. Kah of squandering the
university’s resources and engaging in nepotism and cronyism by employing his
relatives and friends, real corrupt practices.
Dr. Touray also accused Prof. Kah of dismantling the
university’s councils and committees and giving favours to foreign staff, much
to the anger of Gambian staff.
These are real corrupt practices claimed to be done
by someone the society and the whole country should look up to as a role model
both in academics and mode of administration.
Now acquitting and discharging Dr Touray without
seeing any iota of false information in his petition is a confirmation that all
he said there is the truth and nothing but the truth. In fact he was praised by the Magistrate as a
patriotic citizen who did not keep silence on the situation of the UTG but
rather exposed the maladministration of the university by Prof. Kah.
He said during the appointment of Prof. Kah as the
VC, his academic credentials were not put into scrutiny. Despite lack of
scrutiny of his credentials, he is earning D3.5 million annual salary,
US$10,000 annually for his house rent even though he lives in his own house and
about D40, 000 every three months for his children’s school fees, utilities,
his maid and security salaries.
This is outrageous for a developing university to
sustain, as confirmed by a report of the NDEA and Magistrate Alagbe said the
actions of the Prof. Kah was not only wrongdoings, but were ridiculous in terms
of his salary compared to the monthly salary of his predecessor Prof. Stigen, a
Norwegian national.
Since Prof. Kah took over from the Norwegian
national, he is said to have gross disregard for the University Governing
Council and appoints mainly his relatives, among others, thus making both staff
and students’ disgusted and disgruntled with his arbitrary administrative
approach.
An investigation by the National Drug Enforcement
Agency (NDEA) investigative panel to find out whether Dr Touray’s claim holds
any water finally corroborated it.
According to the report, since the appointment of
Prof. Kah as the VC of the UTG, all committees (appointment and promotional
committees, research and strategy committee, exams and evaluation committee, etc)
that were established by his predecessors for the smooth, transparent and
efficient running of the university were abolished.
The NDEA report confirmed that most of the
appointments into the senior cadre of the university (academic and admin) were
singlehandedly done by Prof. Kah, without going by the prescribed standards.
In a nutshell, all that Dr Touray said in his
petition and as corroborated by the investigation of the NDEA are primary behaviours
of a very corrupt and bad leader.
However, the Magistrate said the revelation of
Touray was just a tip of the iceberg meaning there could a possibility of more
abnormality and maladministration under Prof. Kah’s leadership at the
University of The Gambia than is known now.
The magistrate said Dr Touray’s petition was done
for national interest, and as a Gambian VC, Prof Kah is said to lack sacrifice
and patriotism. Touray would have
maintained his silence like other UTG staff to secure his position, but instead
sacrificed his position by challenging the wrongdoing of the big man of the university,
for national interest
The NDEA report has it that Prof. Kah may be a good
lecturer but not a good administrator.
Experts in education and university affairs have
argued that an administrator would make a better vice-chancellor. Running a university is a huge task, and this
has little to do with theoretical knowledge.
Also lots of decisions taken by the vice-chancellor
are more administrative in nature than academic. The VC has to be a good
manager, a quality seldom associated with an academician.
Now Prof. Kah is occupying the position of a vice
chancellor, an administrative position, is he still a better option for this
position? Is he the real corrupt big man portrayed in Dr Touray’s petition and
confirmed by the NDEA report? Should the
university be headed by a man whose academic credential is still a subject of
debate? Will the government or the
ministry of higher education pay heed to Magistrate Alagbe’s recommendation
that a panel be set up to review the credentials of Prof. Kah as to whether he
is fit to be the Vice Chancellor of the UTG?
Can the UTG sustain to pay a salary that is said to be outrageous?
Also, it could only require a little over three years to complete.
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