Former President Jerry John Rawlings has written to the Minister for Education, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, requesting that his name be excluded from the Public Universities Draft Bill to be submitted to parliament.
The former president has asked government to withdraw the decision to name the University for Development Studies (UDS) after him, explaining that he has a long standing principle not to have national monuments named after him.
A statement from the office of the former president and signed by Kobina Andoh Amoakwa read in part that ‘’ 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’’.
The statement added that ‘’ The former President has since the publication of the details of the new bill to be tabled to Parliament written to the Minister of Education to reiterate his position and kindly requested that the re-naming of UDS after him be withdrawn from the Draft Bill to be submitted to Parliament’’.
The statement also noted that in 2015, Mr. Rawlings declined a similar gesture from the then NDC government when it wanted to name the Offshore Cape Three Points Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel after him.
‘’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’’ it concluded.
Source: BestNewsGH.com
