The Executive Director of the Alliance For Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, has condemned the President of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, for renaming some universities in the country, calling it ridiculous.
His statement comes after some public universities were renamed by the President when he assumed office.
For instance, the University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa campus, was named after SD Dombo [Simon Diedong Dombo], a politician from the United Party tradition.
The university is now Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) in the Upper West Region and the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in the Upper East Region.
President Akufo-Addo, in 2018, also renamed the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to the George Grant University of Mines and Technology.
Many people have criticized this action, including the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, who has stated clearly his intention to reverse the original names when he assumes office.
Mr. Thompson, speaking on Breakfast Daily with David Kwaku Sakyi on February 5, 2024, explained that the action is having a negative impact on the credibility of the institutions.
Highlighting the mess it would create, he emphasized that it would be difficult to recognize a particular institution as a result of the renaming.
He added that graduates applying for schools outside the country may find it challenging as a result.
“You see, the mediocrity, the lameness, and the thoughtlessness, you know sometimes, that has characterized this Akufo-Addo regime is something when you give us 10 years, we can’t even describe it. Otherwise, how do you wake up one day and start naming education institutions.”
He added, “People who go to these schools, they are being issued a certificate, right? The certificates that we present. Tomorrow you go and present the certificate and nobody can find a school called University of Winneba or University of Development Studies. The changing of the names of the institutions is wrong because you can’t flip-flop our educational institutions. We should stop naming the institutions after ridiculous people. In fact, the whole name change is ridiculous.”
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