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Group appeals to President not to rename UDS campus after C.K. Tedam

A group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Development of the Kassena-Nankana traditional area in the Upper East Region embarked on a peaceful demonstration last Friday to appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to reconsider his declaration to rename the Navrongo campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) after C.K. Tedam.

It would be recalled that the President made the declaration in June this year at the burial ceremony of the late C.K. Tedam at Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District in the region.

The group, after demonstrating on the streets of the Navrongo municipality, converged at the forecourt of the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly and presented a petition to the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Adum, who is the representative of the President.

The petition, which was read by the group’s spokesperson, Mr Terence Adda-Balinia, proposed to the President to maintain the current name of the university that is, University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS), and rather establish institutions in the area of health, education and agriculture, and name them after C.K. Tedam.

“Your Excellency, while we appreciate your decision to make UDS autonomous, and also to honour C. K. Tedam, establishing institutions in the area of health, education and agriculture and naming them after C.K. Tedam will be highly appreciated as these will contribute to improved social-economic wellbeing of the people of Upper East Region and Ghana at large,” it said.

According to the group, since the declaration of the President to rename the university after the late C.K Tedam, it had brought a lot of dissatisfaction among the people of the Upper East Region.

The group who advocated the need for the establishment of an agriculture training institute in the Upper East Region to eulogise C.K. Tedam, explained that would leverage on the Tono and Via irrigation facilities to revamp agriculture mechanisation to support rice and tomatoes factories in the region.

They stated that since the majority of the people in the region were farmers, the establishment of an agriculture training institute would enhance agriculture modernisation and agribusiness development, thereby creating jobs, increasing productivity and improving the lives of the people.

“Such a project will perhaps be suitable for both the “Planting for Food and Jobs” programme of your government and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal II to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture,” they said.

The other alternative proposed by the group to the President was that the Paga Health Centre  in the Kassena-Nankana West District  be elevated to the status of a modern district hospital and name it after C.K. Tedam, since the entire district had no hospital.

Such a hospital, the group noted, would help serve women and children with health care services that, “are currently not available to the people.”

The group appealed to the government to commit resources to expand facilities at the Paga Senior High School (SHS) and convert it into a boarding SHS and name it after C. K. Tedam.

“This will increase access to education for the growing numbers of students in the area and Ghana as a whole. A project of this nature, resonates with the free SHS policy and the SDG 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,” the group said.

FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, NAVRONGO

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