In
just three years since its inception in 2012, Dominion University
College (DUC) has had many presidents. Notable among them are Mr. Kwame
Achampong-Kyei, the Executive Chairman of Glico Group, Professor Edward
Dua Agyemang, former Auditor-General, Mr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah, and
Justice Emile Short.
After Justice Emile Short resigned as both
the Chairman of the Governing Council and the acting President of the
University College in January 2014, a task force of four members was put
together to find a suitable replacement.
Under the Chairmanship
of Professor Paul Buah-Bassuah of the Physics Department at the
University of Cape Coast (UCC), which is the mentoring institution of
DUC, the task force interviewed two candidates for the position of
presidency for the University College on 20th January, 2014.
The
two candidates were Dr. Felix Hammond and Professor Benony Kwaku Gordor.
Given the backgrounds and the experiences of the two candidates, the
job was eventually given to the former.
In February 2014, Dr.
Felix Hammond, who after the appointment became “Professor” Felix
Hammond, was introduced to Faculty members, staff and students as the
President of the University College by the Chancellor, Archbishop
Nicholas Duncan-Williams, the General Overseer of Action Chapel
International, the sponsoring church of the University College.
It
is surprising to note that at the time of the interview leading to his
appointment as the President of DUC, Professor Felix Hammond was and
still is a full-time Dean at the Faculty of Business Administration of
the Pentecost University College. This dual and position of Professor
Felix Hammond got to the attention of the National Accreditation Board
(NAB) and on questioning the authorities of DUC, the Acting Registrar,
Mr. David Asante, who was handpicked by Professor Felix Hammond for that
position, indicated in a letter to NAB that Professor Felix Hammond was
a consultant to the University College, but not its President. That
action stalled DUC’s institutional accreditation application process
with NAB because the latter was insisting that there should be a
substantive head before it could grant institutional accreditation to
the University College and also allow it to enroll new students.
To
go round this problem, Professor Felix Hammond and Mr. David Asante
last February, got the Governing Council of the University College to
approve the appointment of Professor K. Opoku-Agyemang who is currently
with the English Department at the University of Cape Coast as the new
President. He was to start work officially as the new President of
DUC on 1st April, 2015, but has still not shown up as at the time of
writing this piece.
In view of the above apparent vacuum and a
cover up of a sort, many people who have expertise in tertiary education
have been asking questions such as Who is the real President of DUC? Is
it the consultant Professor Felix Hammond? Or the awaiting President,
Professor K. Opoku-Agyemang, who is still a full-time faculty member at
UCC? Is Archbishop Duncan-Williams aware of this duplicity in the
University College of which he is the Chancellor? Why has NAB allowed
such an act to persist when they could have easily stopped it? Is
Pentecost University College aware that one of its staff while still a
Dean of their Faculty of Business Administration has also been working
in the capacity of President of a competitor?
As we wait for
answers to the above questions, readers may want to know that DUC did
set aside NAB’s directive and recruit two batches of students, who have
even written end-of-semester examinations, perhaps at the full knowledge
of the mentoring institution--UCC, buthave not gone through
matriculation. What is really going on? |
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