Earn it if you want to use them – Vicky Bright backs GTEC's crackdown on fake titles

Former Deputy Minister of State at the Presidency, Victoria Bright, has defended the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) in the ongoing dispute over the misuse of academic titles, stressing that the regulator is not targeting individuals unfairly.

Her comments come amid a standoff between GTEC and Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, over her use of the title ‘professor’.

According to myjoyonline.com report on August 19, 2025, Victoria Bright rejected suggestions that GTEC’s actions amounted to witch-hunting or political victimisation.

“What GTEC is doing is not a witch hunt. And I don’t understand why people are portraying it as such and calling themselves victims. How are you a victim? If you have the degree, just produce it, end of story,” she said.

GTEC’s Director-General, Professor Ahmed Abdulai Jinapor, has already dismissed a two-week ultimatum from Dr Ayensu-Danquah’s lawyers, insisting that her claims of academic rank are inconsistent and unsupported by evidence.

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Victoria Bright argued that the matter goes beyond personal pride, as it touches directly on the integrity of Ghana’s education system.

“It’s about protecting credibility, fairness, our international reputation as a country. And I just don’t understand why people are trying to defend this and why they are being so difficult and attacking GTEC simply for doing its job,” she noted.

Highlighting the dangers of allowing fraudulent credentials to thrive, she cited examples of unqualified individuals practicing in critical professions such as medicine and teaching.

“We have fake doctors. I remember reading with horror a story about a doctor who was doing surgeries, and that doctor had zero medical qualifications. In such cases, they can kill people. You have people who are calling themselves teachers, who can’t teach anybody, so you are jeopardising that child’s future,” she indicated.

She emphasised that professional and academic titles must only be used by those who have earned them.

“If you are not a doctor, if you’re not a lawyer, if you’re not a professor, don’t call yourself that. If you want to do it, go through the process and earn it,” she stressed.

Victoria warned that unchecked credential abuse could harm lives and erode national progress, urging Ghanaians to stop ‘celebrating mediocrity’.

“If we are serious about resetting our country, then everything that makes us look or that portrays us in a negative light has to be stopped. We’ve done this over and over again, year upon year. It’s enough,” she said.

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Meanwhile, watch the trailer to GhanaWeb’s yet-to-air documentary on teenage girls and how fish is stealing their futures below: