By Tsikata & Dotse

The Daily Graphic on the issues of accreditation and diploma mills, in our view, has demonstrated an unimaginable degree of incompetence that may bewilder even the unschooled.

Over the past couple of weeks we have reported on the poor judgment on the part of the Ghana National Accreditation Board (NAB) in accrediting Swiss Management Center (SMC), which is not accredited in Switzerland, but operating in Ghana and issuing certificates; and diploma mills, which are in the businesses of awarding certificates to unsuspecting Ghanaians and destroying the country’s educational system.

In one breath, the Daily Graphic published a cartoon which lampoons (Dr.) Gifty Anti, (Dr.) Kofi Portuphy, (Dr.) John Kudalor, and a fourth person we are yet to identify by name. The caption that accompanied this satirical representation: “Honors Gone Bad,” we thought was highly informative and revealing. Within the same week, the same newspaper publishes an advert in which it chose to publicize the induction ceremony of (Dr.) John Kudalor, one of the individuals it lampooned just days earlier.

Interestingly, it chose to address him by the very title its own newspaper caricatured days earlier. The question is: does the Daily Graphic have an editorial board that examines its publishing processes?

We wish to remind the editors of the Daily Graphic that printing and selling whatever item someone brings to them, without basic due diligence, is unethical and an indictment on their reputation. Perhaps this is one rare situation where the concepts of open market and the customer is always right—take money and publish anything—does not hold.

If Daily Graphic argues that (Dr.) John Kudalor or the police service paid for the publication space, the editorial board of the Daily Graphic must appreciate that the things they publish shape the minds of the reading public.

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?

This constitutes an unpardonable negligence and gross incompetence, considering the strategic position the Daily Graphic holds over Ghanaian lives as the most circulating and the most read newspaper in Ghana.

With regards to a clarification sent to us by one Mr. Dinam Zoiku, who seems to be acting on behalf of IGP (Dr.) John Kudalor, which sought to controvert our report, we wish to point out emphatically that our position on IGP (Dr.) John Kudalor’s award has not changed.

Dayspring Theological University in Texas, USA, is a diploma mill which is accredited by an accreditation mill. As a result, it does not matter whether the IGP (Dr.) Kudalor “earned” his degree or it was awarded as honoris causa.

It is understandable that Mr. Zoiku is fooled by the seal of accreditation from the Transworld Accrediting Commission International. It is important to note that Dayspring Theological University and the Transworld Accrediting Commission International (TACI) are not recognized by the Office of Post-Secondary Education (OPE) of the US Department of Education US DoE).

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.

The attempt to use the Daily Graphic to validate what is considered even by the state accrediting body, NAB, as unwholesome does not speak well to his reputation and that of the country.

Prosper Yao Tsikata, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Communication Valdosta State University and A. Kobla Dotse, PhD Director, Chemical Research & Development