The Volta Regional Youth Wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticized the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) for awarding an honorary doctorate degree to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, claiming that the decision is driven more by political gymnastics than by merit.
Speaking in an interview with Happy Kasiebo, Volta Regional Youth Organizer, Mathias Johnson Alagbo, revealed that the group will continue their discourse by providing clear examples around the same university and its surrounding townships to illustrate how President Akufo-Addo’s administration has neglected the Volta Region and its institutions.
He asserts that President Akufo-Addo does not deserve this honor, which he believes was granted due to political favoritism by NPP supporters who took over a university originally established by late President Mills and further developed by former President Mahama. According to him, if anyone should be honored based on the existence of the university, it should be the late Prof. Mills, whose vision and hard work led to its establishment or President Mahama, who completed the first phase of the project.
“President Akufo-Addo does not merit that honor and it was done on the alter of political bias, it was done by NPP people who came to hijack a university built by President Mills and continued by President Mahama. And if we are to honor any leader based on that university’s existence we could honor the dead that is Prof. Mills through whose vision, hardwork, dedication the university came to being”.
He stated that awarding President Akufo-Addo, who he believes reversed these efforts, seems arbitrary, whimsical, and unacceptable. He emphasized that the university’s decision to confer the honorary award clearly departs from the principles of honor, sincerity, and genuineness expected of reputable institutions worldwide.
The group had petitioned the university authorities to refrain from conferring honorary Doctor of Science degree (honoris causa) on President Akufo Addo in recognition of his significant contributions to science education in Ghana. Nevertheless, the University proceeded with their decision despite the petition.