The IGP, (Dr.) John Kudalor, the Daily Graphic, and Diploma mills

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Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago

Wacko Birds!!!

Daily Graphic carried a carton lampooning the degree so its editorial policy should be in compliance of its cartoon?

Do you understand what is a cartoon?

And what editorial policy anywhere says that a ...
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Wacko Birds!!!

Daily Graphic carried a carton lampooning the degree so its editorial policy should be in compliance of its cartoon?

Do you understand what is a cartoon?

And what editorial policy anywhere says that a paper cannot accept an advertisement to which it conceptually disagrees?

And why should an accreditation go through the mill of your constricted minds before meeting any standard elsewhere?

Same logic I argued when I said elsewhere that at some point in the equation, "accreditation" becomes meaningless because it conforms to the rules of geographical relativity.

I never knew of two slim-heads so enamored with other people's Ph.Ds.
KA 9 years ago

I also see nothing contradictory in a paper publishing a private cartoon lampooning a person's degree and using that degree in a news article about the person. Indeed, the paper can even do both things in the same issue of th ...
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I also see nothing contradictory in a paper publishing a private cartoon lampooning a person's degree and using that degree in a news article about the person. Indeed, the paper can even do both things in the same issue of the paper and let its readers be the judges.

If it is the paper's policy to address people by the titles the persons themselves choose to be addressed by, then the paper cannot do otherwise than to address the people as such. It will not be the paper's duty to check on whether the said title is appropriately acquired or not.

They cannot also stop using the title because two researchers in the USA say the title is "fake". If some other national body with the powers to do so, comes out and makes a pronouncement on the matter asking the said persons to desist from using the title(s) and advising the public not to feel obliged in addressing the people's by the title, then the newspapers, including the Daily Graphic, can stop using the title in their news items.

Of course we're all concerned about Ghanaians' excessive interest in titles. It's a specifically African phenomenon that has been going on for years. There's not much we can do about it except in the clear-cut cases of people without proper degrees teaching in our public institutions. Even in that case, the recruitment units in the universities have a duty to check on the authenticities of applicants they interview and eventually employ. And that goes for all state institutions who promote their employees on account of additional education/training.

For the others who just go about calling themselves by this or that title, academic or otherwise, that's really not a big deal.

Eventually, a time will come when Ghanaians realize that the titles people are called don't really mean much. Many Ghanaians know that already. We're becoming more and more like Europeans. One day, university students in Ghana will start calling their professors by their first names - just like we do in much of Europe.
THE REAL C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

Did you read this?

"This is the reason the Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Accreditation Board (NAB) publicly denounced the IGP’s doctoral degree and advised him to employ some discretion in this matter. Our hu ...
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Did you read this?

"This is the reason the Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Accreditation Board (NAB) publicly denounced the IGP’s doctoral degree and advised him to employ some discretion in this matter. Our humble advice to the IGP is to shelve that doctoral degree and refrain from using it."

It clearly stated that NAB came out to denounce the title to the IGP, so what else do you want?

Besides, the writers had proven themselves to be more informed than NAB, thus forcing NAB to react positively to their Report and took certain actions to withdraw recognition to SMC. If you want to hear from ignorant Ghanaian officials before you know that something is wrong, there are some of us don't think like that. In fact, in civilised nations, the enlightened opinion leaders lead the govt in effecting change.

Andy-K
KA 9 years ago

If the guy insists that the paper must address him by his (false?) title, the paper cannot do otherwise than to oblige him. Even if the NAB says the guy should not use the title, it will not be the duty of Graphic to be the a ...
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If the guy insists that the paper must address him by his (false?) title, the paper cannot do otherwise than to oblige him. Even if the NAB says the guy should not use the title, it will not be the duty of Graphic to be the arbiter in the case.

If the Graphic has an in-house (editorial) policy on such issues, then it will follow that policy. If not it has to go by what the guy insists on being called. I don't think the Graphic's editors believe that everybody they address as Dr properly acquired the degree. But they still have to so address the people or, alternatively, not carry the news item.

Andy, you were in Nigeria when the quality daily, Lagos Guardian, was founded. It had a policy of calling everybody "Mr", making exceptions only for military ranks, and run this policy for some three or four years. Then it announced one day that it was dropping its "Simply Mr" policy and joined other newspapers in the jungle of titles that Nigerians are even worse off at than us.

Put yourself in the seat of the Graphic editor. This will be a difficult call for him. He cannot stop addressing the IGP as Dr while continuing to do so for others whose titles are no less fake than the IGP's. Alternatively, it can adopt the Lagos Guardian's Simply Mr policy and stop calling even ministers Hon. But Graphic is a state owned paper, unlike the Lagos Guardian.

I don't think Dotse's and Tsikata's fight should be with the Daily Graphic and publishing a cartoon ridiculing fake titles and at the same time using the title in a news item is NOT contradictory. Indeed, the second publication is just a good example of what the sartirst is lampooning. Besides, it also shows that the Graphic has not (yet?) decided on a policy on the issue.

All of which don't mean that the two researchers should not continue with their fight or campaign.
KB,LONDON 9 years ago

Who do Dotse and Tsikata think they are anyway? Two pathetic wacky fellows who think the world revolves around them? You are imprisoned in those little minds of yours, when the world is decades ahead.

Who do Dotse and Tsikata think they are anyway? Two pathetic wacky fellows who think the world revolves around them? You are imprisoned in those little minds of yours, when the world is decades ahead.
zakk 9 years ago

The Daily Graphic compromised their credibility for usury! That is what the two writers stand to explain
What and which school produce you? OF COURSE, YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF THE GHANA POROUS EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM! IS THIS WHAT ...
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The Daily Graphic compromised their credibility for usury! That is what the two writers stand to explain
What and which school produce you? OF COURSE, YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF THE GHANA POROUS EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM! IS THIS WHAT OUR SO CALLED INDEPENDENCE ACHIEVE?
I FEEL SORRY FOR GHANA AND HER 47YEARS OF STUPID SO CALLED LEADERS.
Collins 9 years ago

Thank you. These people are gradually being exposed for their real intentions and their lack of credibility

Thank you. These people are gradually being exposed for their real intentions and their lack of credibility
Fonu Segbefia 9 years ago

Your initial comments about the dangers of fake degrees had some merit. No one wants a fake surgeon to operate on their tumour.

But now it seems you are on some crusade of personal vendetta against people you have issues w ...
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Your initial comments about the dangers of fake degrees had some merit. No one wants a fake surgeon to operate on their tumour.

But now it seems you are on some crusade of personal vendetta against people you have issues with. And it now looks like you want to assess whether certain universities meet some standards you have set. That is going too far. SMC is a fairly decent school. It is not Harvard. But it is also not Commonwealth University. Lumping them all together is doing a serious disservice to your campaign.

I am not sure your own college - Valdosta - or whatever is better than SMC. These things can be relative. SMC has some good lecturers and powerful alumni, which are all factors of quality. Not everyone can go to Harvard, Oxford or Stanford. Just as you didn't. So get off your high horses!
Pumpuni 9 years ago

Thank you.

Thank you.
THE REAL C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

Fonu,

Only your comment is ridiculous! A Campaign MUST be relentless and pushy until its goal is achieved.

What lind of jejune nonsense is that the two writers are on a personal vendetta against people they had issues ...
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Fonu,

Only your comment is ridiculous! A Campaign MUST be relentless and pushy until its goal is achieved.

What lind of jejune nonsense is that the two writers are on a personal vendetta against people they had issues with? If you are privy to any issues they had with which persons, then mention that! Don't come here and make such stupid comments against sensible people out o clear a canker from our society.

Everything you wrote is so stupid that I wonder about your level of education and reasoning power. That they want to assess certain universities against some standards they had set? Tweah! How old are you at all?

Are you trying to denigrade Valdosta State Univ,. without even having a clue where it is, etc., etc.? Gosh! Well, when it was set up, your great grandfather was just an illiterate peasant who doubles up as a fisherman in the Keta lagoon.

No, some of us shall mount our high horses we are born with and whip the arses of the lawless, the conscienceless and corrupt phalanx of cretins parading as our leaders and pillars of society.

Andy-K
THE REAL C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

Do you think like KA below that cartoons in the Daily Graphic are private insets? Indeed, you must be the wacko; in fact, many of you commenting here.

The fact that you had been challenged on your Dr (PHD) has seriously cl ...
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Do you think like KA below that cartoons in the Daily Graphic are private insets? Indeed, you must be the wacko; in fact, many of you commenting here.

The fact that you had been challenged on your Dr (PHD) has seriously clouded your mind and judgement. Your stance is therefore obtuse, devoid of any ethical consideration and no respect for the truth and the welfare of the Ghanaian academic scene.

Have you ever tried to place an advert in the Graphic on a controversial or public issue before? We have, on even news carried by the Graphic on one of the recipients of the dodgy honorary doctorates, Mr Patrick Agboba, the Anlo Awoemefia impostor from Logba! First, they'd refused to publish a rejoinder. When we tried to buy space to publish the rejoinder, they'd claim their lawyers were going through and that would take forever! They therefore censor adverts when it suits them! What they publish is what suits them or agree with. You can't therefore, as lawyer, excuse them.

And what nonsense is that the accreditation they are writing about is something they constructed in their minds? All that they are pointing out is that the awarding bodies are not accredited in their own countries: Switzerland, UK and the US. And, thus, by international norms CANNOT be offering courses in their own countries or in Ghana! Is that too difficult for developing people like you to understand and comprehend????!!!! Ha! ba! When are Africans going to become civilised and think like civilised people do???

They are not concerned about others PhDs. They also wrote about dodgy BAs, MAs, some had acquired. They devoted a lot to explain their raionale for taking up this canker. Only lawless, backward and unruly reprobates in their own right can't see the need for nipping this canker in the bud.

Andy-K
Pumpuni 9 years ago

Are all Institutions in the USA accredited by the US Department of Education? How many Accrediting Bodies do you have in the USA? And how many do business with the US Dept. of Education and why? You can write all you can but ...
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Are all Institutions in the USA accredited by the US Department of Education? How many Accrediting Bodies do you have in the USA? And how many do business with the US Dept. of Education and why? You can write all you can but they won't listen to you, and you know why.
Foster 9 years ago

PhD & so what!.Intelligence is not a cure for stupidity neither is it a substitute for wisdom Where is that Vastadad or Wastatad or what ever you call it?.It's not even coming up as you type it in.How has PhD helped Gha ...
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PhD & so what!.Intelligence is not a cure for stupidity neither is it a substitute for wisdom Where is that Vastadad or Wastatad or what ever you call it?.It's not even coming up as you type it in.How has PhD helped Ghana?
Foster 9 years ago

An uncredited university in the US is the credited university in Ghana you may call Legon or KNUST.After all what do you teach in Ghana. Most of your so-called teachers schooled here in the U.S.You also know where you start ...
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An uncredited university in the US is the credited university in Ghana you may call Legon or KNUST.After all what do you teach in Ghana. Most of your so-called teachers schooled here in the U.S.You also know where you start from when you transfer your credits from Ghana.
What again do you call the school you teach or had your PhD from?.
You may start from a community College when you come to the US.
zakk 9 years ago

Oh, paper degrees titles and zero zero practical know how
You wonder why our buildings are burning down?
Even the Indians are also packing our money, and giving us " papers. They call them " degrees!" Dumb nation!

Oh, paper degrees titles and zero zero practical know how
You wonder why our buildings are burning down?
Even the Indians are also packing our money, and giving us " papers. They call them " degrees!" Dumb nation!
Kwasi Agyapong 9 years ago

Well and Fair Play to you both; Prosper and Kobla!

Well and Fair Play to you both; Prosper and Kobla!
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Nana Ama 9 years ago

The tragic and sad state of affairs at the Daily Graphic is "graphically" captured by the authors.

The paper is suffering from schizophrenia. It's got the best printing facilities in the country and yet employs the worst e ...
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The tragic and sad state of affairs at the Daily Graphic is "graphically" captured by the authors.

The paper is suffering from schizophrenia. It's got the best printing facilities in the country and yet employs the worst editorial team one could envisage for a company with so vast an array of resources.
This is because its management philosophy is based on the certifcate-first principle, whereas journalism should rely on demonstrated competence. What has the man written? Where has he practised journalism before applying to join the Graphic? Let him produce EVIDENCE of COMPETENCE.

One wonders whether the National Mwedia Commission concerns itself with the QUALITY of the product of the media that the Constitution has placed under its care. From the product, one is tempted to conclude that the old Ghanaian trap-door of the mediocre-promoting-the-mediocre has taken root in the media, to the
exclusion of the lofty ideas that were entertained by those who entrenched the creation of the National Media Commission in the Constitution.

Mediocrity is bred and nurtured by nepotism, ethnocentrism and complacency. The Graphic was capitalised with state funds to reach its current position at the pinnacle of commercial success in the media. It ought to be kicked to achieve simikar success in the content department.
Kwame 9 years ago

How Ghana lost some of her human resources. This process started soon after the 1966 coup when those trained in the west said that others trained in socialist countries including my good self are not qualified for the job the ...
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How Ghana lost some of her human resources. This process started soon after the 1966 coup when those trained in the west said that others trained in socialist countries including my good self are not qualified for the job they are trained for.
It is a fact that most of the western trained people who implement those obnoxious policies are not aware that some of their lecturers are visiting lecturers from universities in the socialist countries.
In the department I worked in the civil service there were two graduates from the west before I got engaged in the service. If education in the west is an ability to perform, then the bosses in the head office of the department will not pass by those gentlemen and ladies and come down to me in the district to go and solve matters.
Sometime ago the Ghana Medical and Dental Council was about to engage a gynaecologist for the Ridge Hospital. The majority of the members of the Ghana Medical Board who are trained in the west during the short listing refused to accept the application of a gynaecologist who was trained at the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University according to them since he was trained in Eastern Europe he is not qualified for the job. Those members went further even to take a pen and cancel the doctors application together with his carriculum vitae.
Dr. Victor Kofi Agadzi an alumina of that university and a product of its medical faculty protested that if the application of the applicant will not be considered, then he will no be part of the interview board. After looking through the carriculum vitae of the doctor the GMDB decided to invite him to the interview together with others whom they said are qualified.
When he interview was called the medical officer happen to have scoured the highest mark and was appointed to the post.
It is also on record that there are a lot of Eastern European graduates as the best professors in U.S. universities and in the field of education and human resource management you can not read a subject without not mentioning the name of one of them.
I wrote the other time that the man who set up the nuclear medical faculty in Malaysia is a Ghanaian who was rejected by the same Ghana Medical and Dental Board.
Another Ghanaian who implemented the James Town Sea Defense was chased out of Ghana by former President Kufuor because he used only 2.5 million dollars for the project.
I wrote the other time that John Kudalor joined the Ghana Police Service with Master of Arts Degree and after working in the Department of Social Welfare for some years. I am of the view that after working as a police officer for many years and reading law in Ghana in addition he has all what it need to apply to any university in the world to be issued with a Phd. after presenting a thesis to it.
It is most unfortunate for these two men to enter into this discus in this manner. The United States of America and her allies do not accept degrees awarded by some universities in North Korea, but in reality it is those universities who produce the people who make that country a nuclear power.
Pumpuni 9 years ago

The most sensible comment.

The most sensible comment.
THE REAL C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

Kwame, thanks for tagging onto Nana Ama's excellent piece about the mediocrity some are hailing here to lament about something else we must also decry. You ended up in your last paragraph with comments that seek to elevate IG ...
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Kwame, thanks for tagging onto Nana Ama's excellent piece about the mediocrity some are hailing here to lament about something else we must also decry. You ended up in your last paragraph with comments that seek to elevate IGP John Kudalor.

The issue is not about whether he is intelligent enuf to get a PhD. The issue is about people getting degrees, including PhDs, from unaccredited bodies and pure diploma mills, some of them with only Internet presence. Many, many other people were mentioned, not only Kudalor.

Are you are aware that Dr Kwame Nkrumah was also awarded a honorary degree from one of his alma maters in the US? And for that reason, some against pple tend to sneer at him that he didn't have a real, earned PhD? But are you aware that Nkrumah, was also a brilliant student, and indeed passed all his PhD course works and submitted his dissertation to the same institution but it was rejected purely on ideological grounds as too communistic? That's why he left to the UK to start a new one.

I think Nkrumah made a mistake by accepting that deserved award. He should have re-submitted his dissertation to them, with perhaps, some slight edition, for an earned PhD. I bet, at the time, they'd have given it to him on a silver platter, damn Uncle Sam's anti-communist crusade at the time!

After, Einstein also had his dissertation rejected first time as too short!

Andy-K
KA 9 years ago

But you also made a diversion with the long Nkrumah story. You said yourself the issue was about degrees awarded by unaccredited institutions. That's not the issue with Nkrumah's Dr. Nobody accused Nkrumah of using a degree f ...
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But you also made a diversion with the long Nkrumah story. You said yourself the issue was about degrees awarded by unaccredited institutions. That's not the issue with Nkrumah's Dr. Nobody accused Nkrumah of using a degree from an unaccredited institution.

Kwame's contribution points out the fact that even degrees from accredited institutions MAY not mean all that much.

But the fact remains that the root cause of the problem Dotse and Tsikata are fighting is our excessive reliance on, and respect, for people with titles - especially academic ones. With all respect due to Nkrumah, I can still say that he started the problem with his attachment to the honorary doctorate he was given. But it's a typically African thing, though. It's only getting worse which is why people are struggling to get degrees by fair or foul means.

To be sure, I support the work of Dotse and Tsikata. They should only make sure that they do a proper work.
ghanaman 9 years ago

Dear Authors,

You write :"How would the Daily Graphic justify its editorial decision to lampoon an IGP who is refusing to respect the laws of the land in one edition of its paper and, within days, publicize the same indivi ...
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Dear Authors,

You write :"How would the Daily Graphic justify its editorial decision to lampoon an IGP who is refusing to respect the laws of the land in one edition of its paper and, within days, publicize the same individual with the same doctoral accolade they lampooned in an earlier edition of the same newspaper?"

You noted earlier on that the second piece was an advert. Is the newspaper responsible for the content of the advert?

Please continue to hold the bar high in this stellar case you have raised and to also guard the high reputation that your pursuit of the course of "search for the truth" has earned you. Do not mar it with such subtle errors of judgment.

There will be several in Ghana who would have preferred that you keep quite while such intolerable abuses of academic honor take place. Those cowards and praisemongers will not be able to silence the voice for truth and integrity in academia.

Bravo!

PS. I deem it right for you to draw attention to that error pointed out above.
Kwame 9 years ago

Best Writers in the world do not have a certificate, yet we continue to read their books and professors refer to them. Let that also be an information to those who are of the view that knowledge is a property gotten from the ...
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Best Writers in the world do not have a certificate, yet we continue to read their books and professors refer to them. Let that also be an information to those who are of the view that knowledge is a property gotten from the classroom and not in society.
THE REAL C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

The authors did err. It appears you aren't familiar with the extent to which the Graphic goes to accept paid adverts. I wrote about that above.

They are also liable to what is advertised so they claim they even refer paid ...
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The authors did err. It appears you aren't familiar with the extent to which the Graphic goes to accept paid adverts. I wrote about that above.

They are also liable to what is advertised so they claim they even refer paid for rejoinders to news they carried to their lawyers.

Andy-K
okwan dadzie 9 years ago

For all those insulting the writer, stop the hatred and be objective. The springing up of mushroom universities is actually worrying. Graduates from these often can not even construct good sentences. And Gh keeps producing g ...
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For all those insulting the writer, stop the hatred and be objective. The springing up of mushroom universities is actually worrying. Graduates from these often can not even construct good sentences. And Gh keeps producing graduates who bring nothing new aside eagerness to go and read more handouts at Masters degree. The IGP forcing to use this title means he indeed suffers a bit of low self esteem.
Jorleh 9 years ago

Two PhD's and you don't know that DATES of
Graphic publications are essential?

Two PhD's and you don't know that DATES of
Graphic publications are essential?
Kwame 9 years ago

Absurdity... We wrote that though the U.S. does not respect degree awarded by universities in North Korea but it is the North Korean scientists whose degrees she does not respect who are giving U.S. rocket scientists headache ...
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Absurdity... We wrote that though the U.S. does not respect degree awarded by universities in North Korea but it is the North Korean scientists whose degrees she does not respect who are giving U.S. rocket scientists headache. Let us put an end to this intellectual absurdity.

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The IGP, (Dr.) John Kudalor, the Daily Graphic, and Diploma mills

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