As scrutiny of honorary doctorate degree holders intensifies, one beneficiary has come out to profess her innocence.
Media personality, Oheneyere Gifty Anti who was awarded a doctorate degree by the Global Center for Transformational Leadership in 2012 explained to Real Eugene of Radio Universe that she did check the institution out when they sought to award her the degree for her media work and since others have been awarded in the past reckoned their activity was above board.
“I don’t know what the worry of University of Valdosta or whatever’s worry is. I’m privileged to know that all the way there they know about me. My honorary doctorate degree was given to me in 2012 by an institution known as Global Center for Transformational Leadership, you can Google them. When they brought me the letter that they wanted to honor me, there were about four people being honored too. What I did was to Google and I saw some of the people they had given honorary doctorate from around the world and some of the places they’ve held their events. I didn’t read anything negative about them so I accepted it. That is all I know about. If they are fake, my bad. I didn’t have a cause to believe that they are not credible.â€
For some time now notable Ghanaians have received honorary doctorate degrees from unaccredited tertiary institutions prompting Valdosta State University in the U.S to draw the attention of the country’s Education Ministry to intervene so sanity can prevail. These degrees don’t come cheap either. Ms Mabel Aku Baneseh of Daily Graphic was asked by one such institution to pay $4000 for a doctorate degree.
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Beneficiaries of such dubious degrees include (Dr.) Sherry Ayittey, (Dr.) Kofi Portuphy, (Dr.) Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey, (Dr.) Bernard Otabil, (Dr.) John Kudalor (IGP), (Dr.) Kwasi Appiah, (Dr.) Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, (Dr.) Dzifa Aku Ativor and (Dr.) Togbui Sri III.