NAPTEX Floored Ordered To Reinstate 2 Officers

An Accra High Court has ordered the reinstatement of two former staff of the National Board for Professional and Technical Examinations (NAPTEX) whose appointments were terminated in 2013. The two�Francis Owusu-Mensah, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Stephen Onwona Adjapong, Test Development Secretary, had sued NAPTEX, its Board Chairman, Prof Paul N. Buatsi, and Francis W. Y. Tagbor, the Executive Secretary, for what they described as an �unlawful dismissal�. The appointments of the duo were terminated due to allegations of a supposed nationwide leakage of the May/June 2013 Certificate II core subject examinations. The applicants had prayed the court to declare the termination of their appointments, as contained in the letters dated November 28, 2013, as unlawful. They had again sought an order of certiorari to bring in and quash the decision of the Board Chairman of NAPTEX to terminate the appointments as being unlawful, a violation of due process and relevant service conditions of NAPTEX and the Civil Service of Ghana as well as the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The applicants had also wanted an order of mandamus compelling the Executive Secretary and the Board of NAPTEX to reinstate them before the unlawful termination of their employment and payment of all their salaries, arrears and allowances due them. However, the respondents in their affidavit in opposition, among other things, averred that the termination of the appointments of the two was proper and in compliance with due process, insisting that Messrs Owusu-Mensah and Onwona Adjapong are not entitled to any of the reliefs they are seeking from the court. But the trial judge, Justice Kwabena Asuman-Adu, in a ruling on the matter, wondered the role the two might have played in the leakage of the said examination. He noted that from the letters terminating the appointments, the only reference made to the reason why the applicants were interdicted and the disciplinary committee set up was paragraph two of the letters which stated that �following the recent events at NAPTEX, the Board of Directors have come to the conclusion that it cannot continue to engage you as an officer of the institution.� The trial judge for this reason stated that �it does not show what the applicants actually did as far as the alleged examination leakages were concerned.� Justice Asuman-Adu said there is nothing indicating whether or not the applicants were found culpable of the allegations levelled against them, adding that it is therefore not clear from the dismissal letters why the appointments of the applicants were terminated. The trial judge said it implies that in terminating the appointments of the applicants, the respondents did not comply with due process, making it unlawful. He said the applicants are entitled to their reliefs and accordingly granted same.