Kwami Alorvi’s piece lays bare what many within the education sector have been whispering for months: the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), under Prof. Ahmed Jinapor, is on a marauding track, and those with the power to stop it are shockingly watching in silence.

Let us be clear. Regulation is not harassment. Oversight is not obstruction. When a regulatory body begins to operate like a bull in a china shop—issuing directives that clash with sister agencies, bypassing consultation, and sowing confusion among ordinary Ghanaians—then it ceases to regulate and starts to destabilise.

THE PATTERN IS UNDENIABLE

Targeting credentials after power changed hands: As Alorvi asked, where was this zeal to “verify” PhDs and professorial titles when the NPP was in power? Why the sudden awakening on 7 January 2025? Selective vigilance is not vigilance—it is politics in regulatory clothing.

The UCC episode: Threatening closure of a premier university because of an internal leadership transition was never about standards. It was macho posturing that embarrassed the sector and the Minister.

The GES recruitment controversy: GTEC’s 9 April 2025 circular, conveniently backdated and released on social media minutes after GES announced recruitment, is the latest affront. GES sets eligibility criteria. GTEC then ambushes the process with a parallel directive it did not bother to discuss with GES.

The Director-General of GES only saw the letter when it was forwarded to him by a third party. This is not coordination; it is turf warfare, with unemployed graduates as collateral damage.

THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS HURT ORDINARY PEOPLE

GTEC has not told applicants where to submit certificates. It has not said whether this applies to UCC, UEW, UDS, or only certain universities. It has not explained whether a graduate in Bunkpurugu or Kete Krachi is expected to travel to Accra for the “evaluation” of a certificate issued by a Ghanaian public university that GTEC itself accredited. What exactly is GTEC evaluating if it already approved the programmes and the universities?

If GTEC does not trust the certificates issued by institutions it regulates, then it is indicting itself. You cannot certify the schools and then punish the students.

HIDING BEHIND THE DEPUTY

The public has also noticed a troubling pattern: the controversial letters are signed by Prof. Augustine Ocloo, not Prof. Ahmed Jinapor. Yet no one believes the Deputy Director-General acts alone on matters this sensitive. If Prof. Jinapor believes in these directives, he should sign them. Leadership requires ownership. Hiding behind a subordinate while he absorbs public backlash is the opposite of courage.

THE SILENCE OF THOSE WHO MUST ACT

This is the crux: the Minister of Education, the Chief of Staff, and the Presidency cannot claim ignorance. The confusion is public. The embarrassment is public. The potential to make the government unpopular among teachers and graduates is real and unfolding. Yet the silence is deafening.

Regulatory bodies do not exist in a vacuum. Act 1023 did not create five autonomous kingdoms. It created agencies under the Ministry of Education to work in harmony. When one agency begins to undercut another, the Minister must intervene. When intervention does not come, the public is right to ask: Is this incompetence, indifference, or tacit approval?

WHAT MUST HAPPEN NOW

The Minister must call GTEC to order publicly. A private “discussion” will not undo the public confusion. GTEC’s 9 April letter must be withdrawn with a clear statement that GES recruitment proceeds based on GES guidelines alone.

Clarify roles once and for all. GTEC accredits programmes and institutions. Universities issue and verify certificates. GES recruits. NTC licenses. These roles are not suggestions—they are law and practice.

End backdated, social-media governance. Policy is not made by ambush. If GTEC wants to change recruitment verification, it must engage GES, NTC, and the Ministry, secure consensus, and communicate properly—not drop letters on Facebook.

Prof. Jinapor must lead from the front. If he stands by these actions, he should sign them. If not, they must be stopped. You cannot have it both ways.

A regulatory body that creates chaos is a liability to the government it serves. A government that watches its agency create chaos becomes complicit in it.

Kwami Alorvi asked when GTEC will be stopped. The better question is: who will stop it, and why has it not been done already? Every day of silence is an endorsement.

The Ministry of Education does not need saboteurs. It needs coordination. The graduates of this country do not need more hurdles; they need jobs.

A stitch in time saves nine. The time is now.