Gentle reminder to Ghana Parliament: A deserved birthday gift for UPSA’s founder, please!

When on August 28, 2023, Joseph Kwaku Opoku-Ampomah, the man who founded what is now the University of Professional Studies, Accra, (UPSA), celebrated his 95th birthday, fittingly, it was a day of festivity to commemorate this momentous milestone.

But, sadly, the one gift that would have been the superlative icing on his nonagenarian birthday cake is still awaited: the promised renaming of the University after its founder, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Amoafo-Bekwai Traditional Area, in the Ashanti Region, with the stool name of Nana Opoku-Ampomah.

Five long years after that promise was made to the founder of the Institute of Professional Studies, as he named it, and better known in its early years as the famous IPS, Nana Ampomah, is still waiting for the renaming to be done!

The promise was announced by President Nana Akufo-Addo on April 25, 2018, when the President was the Guest of Honour at the UPSA’s Fourth Special Congregation, during which, the University conferred on Nana Opoku-Ampomah an honorary doctorate for his contribution to the development of education in the country.

(Another recipient of an honorary doctorate at the event, was Mr. Ahmad Ahmad, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA Vice-President “in recognition of his remarkable public service and outstanding contribution to the development of African football.”)

In his address, at the Special Congregation, President Akufo-Addo announced that he had approved a decision by the Governing Council of the University to rename the school after its founder. Thus, after Parliamentary ratification, it should be known as the ‘Nana Ampomah University of Professional Studies’.

Yet, inexplicably, since that historic announcement, which in 2018 I highly commended in mynewspaper column, there has been no news about any move to
implement the decision. There appears to be an obstacle somewhere blocking the implementation.

On its website, UPSA proudly states that it “remains the only public institution in Ghana with the mandate to offer both academic degrees and provide tuition for business professionalism qualifications.” Doubtless, it is thanks to the foresight and perseverance of Nana Dr. Opoku-Ampomah that this unique institution came into being. Little wonder that years later the idea was mooted by some principled people that Nana’s brainchild, now a prestigious university,
should bear his name.

According to the UPSA site, “the necessary constitutional and legal processes have been put in motion to effect the name change to ‘Opoku-Ampomah University of Professional Studies'.

But, one may ask, how long was the “motion to effect the change” supposed to take? Why the inexplicable delay? Why the silence? Is it traceable to the Presidency? Or to UPSA? Or to Parliament?

However, the UPSA Governing Council must have done their homework thoroughly before communicating their proposal to the Presidency and getting the go-ahead for the President to announce the renaming. So does it mean that Parliament is to be blamed for the delay?

Indeed, that appears to be the case. A daughter of Nana Ampomah, Catherine Opoku-Ampomah, told me earlier this week that “we have unofficially asked the school and the story so far is that they’re waiting for Parliament to pass the Bill.” Nana has now written to the University Council asking about the renaming, she said.

At the time of filing this article, the Public Affairs Department of Parliament had not been able to respond to my enquiry about the ratification.

My 2018 article applauding the promised renaming stated: “Well done to the UPSA Governing Council and all those who pushed for UPSA to be renamed after its founder, Nana Opoku-Ampomah.” I added, “I hope that the necessary procedures to make the decision take effect will not take too long” (emphasis added), but I certainly could not have foreseen that those words would turn out to be prophetic!

The following are other excerpts from that article published in my then Mirror column (‘Thoughts of a Native Daughter’), under a headline which read, in part, ‘Congrats to UPSA Governing Council’: “I believe that the UPSA renaming will have come as very welcome news to any fair-minded person who knows even just a little bit about the founding of that institution.

“The UPSA, originally the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS), was founded by Nana Ampomah in 1967, but it was taken over by the state in 1978.

“It received a Presidential Charter in September 2008 under former President John Agyekum Kufuor, which conferred on it the status of a fully-fledged university".

“That UPSA will now bear his name is probably more cherished by Nana Ampomah than (even) the honorary doctorate, considering all the stress he has reportedly had to endure (in his quest) for recognition as the founder.” (The Mirror of May 18, 2018.)

In my opinion, the IPS/UPSA story is an awesome achievement by an individual who deserves to be acknowledged by the nation. No wonder that in addition to a feature on Nana in the Daily Graphic of August 28, the UPSA Global Alumni, which includes such notable personalities as the Inspector-General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, placed an advert in that issue to celebrate their esteemed founder.

Their simple but touching citation states: “The Global Alumni are forever grateful for your foresight.”

Interestingly, it was only a few days ago that the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who is also Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, was lamenting that “extreme partisanship and political polarisation hamper the celebration of the country’s national heroes.”

The Minister was speaking in Kumasi, at an event organised by the Busia Institute to mark the 45th anniversary of the death of Prime Minister Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, coincidentally, also an August 28 happening, but in 1978.

Memorably, the Daily Graphic of August 30, 2023, also quoted Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu as saying: “It is my humble plea that as a people, we honour the men and women who blaze trails …According to Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero “a Roman lawyer, writer, and orator”), ‘poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that, having heroes, fails to remember and honour them’.” (Emphasis added.)

If the promise to Nana Ampomah cannot be fulfilled, I think Nana, his family, and the country need to be told why, because the announcement was made for the benefit of the public. But if it’s just a curious oversight by Parliament, then it seems to me that it’s only fair for that to be corrected ASAP.

Of course, belated birthday congratulations and gifts are still welcome, no matter how long the delay! And surely, the wait of five long years needs to have a happy ending!

I side with the Minister’s view illustrated by his Cicero quote. As I wrote in my 2018 article, “To inspire others, Ghana needs to establish a tradition of honouring its initiators, trailblazers, and pioneers.”

Furthermore, going by the Minister’s words in Kumasi, I, for one, would say that in this matter of honouring the promise to Nana Dr. Opoku-Ampomah, given the Minister’s influential position, the ball is definitely in Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah’s court!