Former President H.E Jerry John Rawlings is asking the Akufo-Addo Government not to rename any university in the country after him.
This comes after publications in the media suggested that a proposed Universities Bill is to be submitted to Parliament which includes plans to re-name four universities
after eminent Ghanaian personalities.
In the said Bill, it is suggested that the University of Development Studies (UDS) be re-named after president.
But the former president has declined that the institution be renamed after him. He has since “requested that the re-naming of UDS after him be withdrawn from the Draft Bill to be submitted to Parliament.”
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education Minister.
“When the proposal for the naming of the UDS was first brought to the former President’s
attention by the Education Minister in 2017, he thanked the President and the government
for the honour, but politely declined the offer because he had a long-standing principle
not to have national monuments and facilities named after him,” Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, Director of Communications at Mr rawlings’ office disclosed in a statement.
“The former President once again thanks the President and all those who in diverse ways
are keen on recognizing his contribution to the development of Education in the country,” the statement added.
This is not the first time Mr Rawlings has declined the offer to be named after a national monument in the country despite his contribution to the development of Ghana.
In 2015 he declined a similar offer when the then National Democratic Congress (NDC) government offered to name the offshore Cape Three Points Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel after him
