Renaming of Universities: Continue to wallow in ignorance and hatred - Obiri Boahen to critics

The rate at which government of the day is re-christening or renaming national assets after some deserving citizens has raised eyebrows, especially among members of the opposition National Democratic Congress [NDC].

But it appears the incumbent is hell-bent on their ‘agenda’ and will not heed to any distraction whatsoever from any quarters. That is the assertion of the ruling party’s Deputy General Secretary, Nana Obiri Boahene.

There have been wide criticisms in the media over the renaming of some tertiary institutions in Ghana after prominent figures following the latest proposition by the governing council of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the 4th Congregation of the University in Sunyani on Saturday, August 10, 2019 was quoted to have said “Following the decision taken by the University’s Council on August 3, 2018, the university will be named after one of the illustrious sons of the region, Professor K.A Busia after the decision had received Parliamentary approval “, he stated amidst applause.

This comes barely a month after a proposal for the renaming of the Navrongo campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) after C. K. Tedam, the immediate past Chairman of the Council of Elders of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) who passed on recently.

According to Obiri Boahene, all the state-owned educational institutions in the country will be renamed after the country's founding fathers’; irrespective of public disquiet.

Speaking on NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’, the NPP stalwart expressed the view that anyone against the move can “continue to wallow in their ignorance and tribal hatred.”

He was emphatic that the plan to rename University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Sunyani in the Bono Region after the late Prime Minister of the Second Republic, Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia is laudable.

“He [Kofi Abrefa Busia] deserves more than that,” he told host Mac Jerry Osei Agyeman