NPP established 8 public universities in 8 years

It has been revealed that the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration established eight public universities during its eight-year rule.

A lecturer at Sunyani Polytechnic, Lawrence Amponsah, disclosed that under NPP, the Tarkwa School of Mines, now University of Mines; Ghana Maritime Academy, now Ghana Maritime University College; Ghana Telecom Training School, now Telecom University College; University College of Education, Winneba with satellite campuses at Mampong and Kumasi, now University of Education, the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ); Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) and the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), among others, all attained university status.

According to him, the NPP administration did not make noise over these enviable achievements of providing more access to tertiary education simply because “they did not want to blow their own trumpets”.

Speaking on Sunyani-based Space FM Wednesday, Mr. Amponsah took a swipe at the Mills administration for deceiving people of the Brong Ahafo and Volta regions after failing to honour its promise of establishing new public universities in the two areas.

He said the NDC government had rather deprived the Brong Ahafo region by phasing out the existing KNUST Faculty of Forestry Resources Technology, which was given a major facelift by the NPP government, to make way for the proposed University of Energy and Natural Resources.

Still touting the NPP’s achievements with regard to tertiary education, Mr. Amponsah said former President Kufuor and his government transformed tertiary education in Ghana with the injection of heavy infrastructural development to ensure expansion.

He pointed out that after turning former Sunyani Technical School into the current Sunyani Polytechnic, the NDC I administration failed to put up a structure in the school, “not even a urinal”.

He argued that the Kufuor-led NPP government put up all the new facilities there in order to raise its standard up to the level of other polytechnics in the country.

The lecturer said all the nation’s polytechnics and universities which had serious infrastructural deficits were given a major boost in terms of new structures, all under the NPP’s eight year-rule.

He therefore called on the NDC to stop the noise they were making over the establishment of the proposed Volta and the B/A universities.

He noted that the Mills government was finding it very difficult to fulfill these two campaign promises and had rather chosen to use existing campuses to indicate that they had fulfilled them in an attempt to throw dust into the eyes of the people.