Kofi Bentil, Vice President of Policy think tank, IMANI Africa, has described as ‘backward’, government’s intention to introduce a bill which will regulate universities.
"There is enough law for each of the universities to manage themselves” he explained, adding that to bring in another one to control all of them is ‘wrong’
A draft Public Universities Bill introduced by government to regulate the various public has generated controversies throughout this week.
So many educationists have spoken against this bill because of its alleged controlling effect. However, government has insisted that the bill is not intended to attack academic freedom but to harmonize management.
Kofi Bentil, who was speaking on JoyFM's Newsfile programme, wondered what mischief or problem the bill seeks to cure.
"I feel sad…are they trying to solve a problem and what problem are they trying to solve?…why do you go through all these stress…I can’t see the problem we are going to solve. This bill is seeking to control everything that goes on in the university…my worry is where from this and what is it trying to do?" he rhetorically asked.
He indicated further that “the thinking that you need one law for all the universities is totally backward…this idea of trying to make all universities into one is wrong. What people must know is that if they are in power today, they will not be in power tomorrow…another person can take power and misuse it"
He has also pleaded that there should be sober thinking behind this, "for this is wrong and we need to go back and redo it".
Renaming of universities
The government also intends to rename four universities in the bill is adopted. They include: the University of Development Studies (UDS), the University of Professional Studies (UPS) Accra, the University of Health and Allied Sciences, as well as the University of the Energy and Natural Resources.
Meanwhile, former President Jerry John Rawlings has declined an offer to rename UDS after him.
Touching on the renaming issue, Kofi Bentil described 'unwieldy'.
"...what is the need for it; you can name other things or find other ways of doing it. A name is a name but what will it add or take away" he queried.
On the other hand, Martin Kpebu, Private legal practitioner adding his voice to this debate, urged the government to let the status quo remain.
To him, the nation is better off dealing with specific problems and not have a blanket approach.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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Mr Bentil Enchi, what does the bill say? you see your face? your unthinking tank is all over the place making a nuisance of yourselves. you don't have to talk on every issiue unde4r the sun
Bentil let us see you prowess as a legal practitioner and stop following the so called 'think tankers' who have never made any tangible proposal but always correcting and maligning peoples ideas.
what necessitated this ***barred word*** bill..it is not political interference? what makes you guys think this bill is going to sanitized our universities. this bill is rather going to increase the activities of politicians in our universities. Are you guys saying you know management and leadership than those who taught you these same subjects in our universities. We have never had these problems until Nana Addo and his cohorts invaded our universities with their hungry members who knows nothing that to take position.. what happened at KNUST & UCEW is simply political interference by the hungry NPP apparatchiks.
Bentil you are not serious. You see how Kweku Baako flooered you with his sensible logic. You rush too mush. learn from Kweku Baako.
The arrogance with which people like Kofi Bentil share their views on almost everything in the country is nauseating! What is backward about a DRAFT bill, which is still undergoing consultations, and which seeks to harmonize how public universities are run? And to confuse this with a so-called threat to academic freedom is just sickening. Bentil was also saying that the Bill intends to make all public Universities the same, in terms of course they offer etc... I don't know what he is reading!
No wonder birds of the same feathers fly together. May be Kwasi Bentil should tell us whether Kotoka International Airport and KNUST were backward acts committed by previous governments. Some intellectuals fail to reason with their heads and instead use their stomachs to anaylze issues.
@@mtweeeemo if anything at all you should have brought your name not @ mtweeeemo! in any case you are a foo000l that is why you are in the ndc,and no wonder your party is not attractive because of idi*ots like you ! making noise to yourselves won't give you victory nut coming out with policies and explanations not criticizing somebody's policy and trying to make it like yours will satisfy the 54% who voted you out! let me come to your no*nsense......did you see Kofi Bentil voting for the NPP if you want to know IMANI was on ndc pay roll to shut them up but Akufo Addo will never do that with Ghana money just because somebody has big mouth ! igno****barred word*** ndcni find job to do to better your life since over 1 million votes is not easy to wipe off! I shall return! We will never give you back the seat of power to cause more damage, you can rent crowd as much as you want it will never change anything! the D day results will show who is much popular and loved by Ghanaians because of policies not who is able to pay much for fanfare ! Ghanaians are very discerning so keep on encouraging your igno****barred word*** foolsoldiers to create an atmosphere of Ghana ay3 den and john mahama will cry again 2020 ! The people he met when in power are the same he is meeting in his down fall so what difference does it make? I don't vote for the ndc so I don't smoke wee! ***barred word*** !
Nana should sack dr prempeh and adutwum. They are creating too much problems for him in the education ministry.
I now understand you couldn't find any sensible name but ntweeeeeemo. Your name defines your ediocy and follyy. So if they didn't mount npp platform then it means they didn't campaign for npp. What a myopic logic. I think you are a weed smoker.
LIBRARIAN, THIS PROPOSED BILL IS THE BEST TO HAVE HAPPENED TO PUBLIC UNIS. LIBRARIES ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE NOW BECOMING E-LIBRARIES MANAGED BY I.T. EXPERTS, HENCE THERE MUST BE A PLACE FOR I.T. DIRECTORS IN THE BILL. AGAIN, THE REGISTRAR POSITION MUST BE HELD BY ACADEMICS ONLY AT LEAST AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND NOT BY NON-ACADEMICS, THE BANE OF PUBLIC UNIS UP TO THIS TIME, WHERE NON-ACADEMICS HAVE HIJACKED ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.