Country Man Songo, Yaa Brefo doctorate degrees ‘forgery’– NAB

The National Accreditation Board (NAB) has described as ‘fake’ the ‘doctorate degrees’ Riches Theological College and Clergy Council issued to some individuals in the media industry recently.

NAB says the Riches Theological College and Clergy Council has not been accredited to award any form of degree, be it regular or honorary in the country.

It has, therefore, cautioned dignitaries who have been awarded by the said institution with the so-called ‘honorary degrees’ to desist from using such titles to avoid exposing themselves to unnecessary embarrassments and ridicules.

Riches Theological College and Clergy Council within the month of August 2018, awarded two staff of Multimedia Group Limited, namely, Patrick Osei Agyemang, popularly known as Country Man Songo, who presents Fire-For-Fire on Adom TV and Asempa FM and Nana Yaa Brefo, who also presents the news on Adom TV and co-host the Adom TV’s morning show, Badwem.

 

While Country Man Songo was decorated with ‘Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humanity’, Nana Yaa Brefo was awarded a ‘Honorary Doctorate in Journalism and Humanity’.

But the NAB in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Dr Kingsley Nyarko, said the institution is not mandated to give such awards.

The statement explained that “this is one of such instances where some foreign institutions confer such honorary degrees, particularly doctorate degrees on prominent personalities with intent to legitimize and popularize the operations of the institutions in Ghana, and thereby seeking to attract unsuspecting students to enroll them”.

Dr. Nyarko reminded the public that the conferment of honorary degrees was the prerogative of degree awarding institutions so mandated.

“Therefore, non-governmental organizations, unaccredited institutions and accredited private tertiary institutions operating under the mentorship of chartered degree-awarding universities are not qualified by themselves to confer honorary degrees. Any such institutions that do so will be in contravention of Regulation 19 (1) of the Tertiary Institutions (Establishment and Accreditation) Regulation, 2010 (L.I. 1984) which states that:

“An accredited institution shall not issue certificates or award its own degrees, diplomas or honorary degree without a charter granted to it for that purpose by the President,” it said.

The NAB cautioned all distinguished personalities invited for such awards, to verify the accreditation status and degree-awarding powers of the institutions that seek to confer on them honorary degrees to avoid any embarrassing fallouts.

It said any “person/group that accepts any degree from this/such entity does so at the peril of being a subject of ridicule and contempt”.