Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of operations at the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Prof. Michael Ayamga-Adongo, has accused the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) of overreaching its mandate and acting like “headmasters of tertiary education” instead of focusing on its core responsibility of regulating quality in Ghana’s universities.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Tuesday, August 19, he asserted that the Commission had shifted its focus from quality assurance to policing individuals, while still granting accreditation to institutions that fall short of acceptable academic standards.
He added that the procedure adopted by the GTEC against the MP is an evident case of “name and shame” tactics, which he termed unacceptable.
“I think that GTEC is overreaching. They are becoming like the headmasters of tertiary education in this country and more or less leaving their core mandate, which is regulating the quality of tertiary institutions.
“In the case of the Deputy Minister, you can just see that this is a case where they want to name and shame people,” he stated.
He criticised the Commission for accrediting poorly equipped universities, describing some of the facilities he had observed as “sickening.” “They are the very ones that are giving accreditation to very poor universities, and when you enter some universities, it is sickening to think of what they come to do in our universities in the name of accreditation. These get through, and that is where they should be policing,” he stressed.
Prof. Ayamga-Adongo further linked the proliferation of fake and substandard degrees to GTEC’s failure to strictly enforce quality standards. “The reason we have fake and bad degrees in the system is that very poorly equipped institutions end up getting accredited by these same GTEC, and so that is what they should focus on. Their core mandate is to get the government to equip our universities to deliver quality education so that we don’t have certificates without substance,” he added.
His comments come as GTEC continues to engage in a dispute with Deputy Health Minister and Essikadu-Ketan MP, Dr. Grace Ayensu-Danquah, over her academic credentials. The Commission has refuted her claim to the title of professor and has cautioned her against using it.
In a letter to the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, GTEC explained that it had requested Dr. Ayensu-Danquah to provide documentary proof of her professorial appointment by August 11, 2025.
Her lawyers, led by David K. Ametefe, responded on August 8, maintaining that she had been appointed an Assistant Professor of Surgery by the University of Utah in the United States. They further argued that GTEC had no authority to demand verification of academic appointments made abroad.
In response, the legal team strongly criticised the Commission’s correspondence, warning that if GTEC fails to withdraw its stance within 14 days, they would pursue legal remedies to protect her reputation.
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