Two Directors Drag Korle-Bu, Board Chairman Into The Dock

Two Directors of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, have filed a suit at the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court, seeking an injunction on the advertisement of their position as vacant, among others.

The Directors, Bright Kwame Korkoryie and Dr. Nuru-deen Mohammed, in a writ of summons dated November 22, 2018, are praying the court to compel the Defendants, including the Attorney General, the Governing Board of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the Board Chairman of the hospital, to refrain from continuing with the process of revoking their (plaintiffs) employment.

They are also seeking a declaration that the defendants’ advertisement of the vacancy of plaintiffs’ position as ultra vires and in contravention of the powers conferred on them.

Plaintiffs also want an order to restore 1^st defendant to his position.

The 1st plaintiff claimed that he was on leave when he saw the said advert on pages 42 and 43 of Friday October 12, 2018 relating to his position.

He said he was traumatized and had to be resuscitated by other doctors as a result of the emotional trauma he went through and high blood pressure.

The plaintiffs claim they raised the issue at a Board meeting on October 25 but the Board Chairman insisted the action was lawful.

Thus, they resorted to the court action to get the court to order him, defendant, to rescind their decision, among others.
It would be recalled that, some top seven (7) Directors of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital were interdicted through what many people at the hospital described as “Kangaroo tactics, allegedly orchestrated by the hospital’s board chairman, Hon. Bernard Okoe Boye.

The interdiction of the 7 directors took place after advertisements of their positions were run in the dailies as through those positions were vacant.

The directors struggled to understand what might have triggered the advertisement of their positions that were not vacant, as though they were. It however emerged that the Korle-Bu Board Chairman, Hon. Bernard Okoe Boye was under instruction from top hands who wants all directors at the hospital replaced.

The directors’ positions were advertised in the Daily Graphic of Friday, October 11, 2018 under the caption “Appointment of Directors” as well as the Daily Guide, even though the directors were at post.

A nurse at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital who is also uncomfortable with the whole development said, “First and foremost, why the Daily Guide? Daily Guide is an NPP appendage or mouthpiece, so placing job adverts there as opposed to Ghanaian Times which is a national and non-partisan newspaper, is to me, unclear. I stand to be corrected but I thought there was a government directive sometime back that all public institutions must necessarily do business with other government or public institutions. Why the Board of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital led by the Board Chairman chooses to place a job advert for senior public officers in a private newspaper instead of a government or public newspaper is anyone’s guess.”

Also, of all the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Directors positions advertised, five (5) are occupied by senior public servants duly appointed.

These positions are Director of Medical Affairs, Director of Administration, Director of Pharmacy, Director of Finance and Director of Human Resource.

Meanwhile, the only vacant positions that are occupied by Acting Directors are the Director of Nursing and Midwifery as well as the Director of General Services.

What informed the Board Chairman to singularly instruct that all Directors’ position be advertised is anybody’s guess.

Shockingly, working documents and Acts governing the activities of Directors of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital clearly state that the position is a public servant one and that they are not political appointees to be removed per change in government.

The defendants, eleven in all, are expected to enter appearance in eight days, including the day of service of the writ.

The plaintiffs also wants costs to be awarded against the defendants.