Four public universities may see a change of name if a draft bill from the Education Ministry gets to Parliament and is passed.
The bill will see University for Development Studies renamed after the first President of the fourth republic, Jerry John Rawlings
Legon-based University of Professional Studies will be renamed after its founder, Nana Opoku Ampomah.
Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, who is a former United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and Convention People’s Party (CPP) member, will be honoured with the University of Health and Allied Sciences, located in the Volta Region, where he hails from.
The University of Energy and Natural Resources in the Bono Region will be renamed after Kofi Abrefa Busia, the second Prime Minister of Ghana and the only one for the second republic.
Kofi Abrefa Busia
Besides the renaming, the draft of the Public Universities Act seeks to take majority membership on the universities’ councils from the university community and handover the same to the government.
However, the executive is facing pressure to withdraw the bill even before it hits the legislative arm of government for consideration.
Many have expressed dissatisfaction over this and Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampo in a Facebook post said the academic community will kick would resist any political interference at all cost.
“…we would resist the attempt to touch our academic freedom with our blood,†he wrote.
The Ministry of Education has responded to the many sentiments and said the bill is just a draft and is subject to the contributions of the lecturers and other senior members of the universities.
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