Kufuor’s Appointment As UMaT Chancellor Well-Deserved” – President Akufo-Addo
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has
described the decision by the University of Mines and Technology,
Tarkwa, to appoint the 2nd President of the 4th Republic, John Agyekum
Kufuor, as its first Chancellor, as well-deserved.
According to
President Akufo-Addo, it is entirely appropriate that the former
President, who was responsible for ensuring that the Western University
College of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, through
presidential assent on 12th November, 2004, becomes UMAT’s first
Chancellor.
President Akufo-Addo stressed that “it is a
well-deserved honour, given in recognition of the immense work you did,
during your time as President of the Republic, not only for UMaT, but
also for Mother Ghana. Ayekoo. I commend the authorities of the
University for this admirable gesture.”
The President made this
known on Friday, 12th January, 2017, at the Investiture of former
President Kufuor as Chancellor of the University, at a ceremony held at
the UMaT Auditorium.
Applauding UMaT for the important role it
is playing in producing industry-oriented graduates in engineering,
together with its research findings, President Akufo-Addo stated that
UMaT puts Ghana, a country rich in minerals and with a thousand (1,000)
year history of mineral exploitation, in a strategic position to be a
global leader in mining and its allied industries.
He commended
the University also for its contribution to the fight against galamsey
through the training of four hundred (400) small scale miners, with an
additional thousand (1,000) more set to be trained this year, and the
manufacture of “Sika Bukyia”, a direct smelting kit for the recovery of
gold without the use of mercury.
Government, through the
Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the President noted, intends to
facilitate the manufacture and sale of ‘Sika Bukyia’ to all licensed
small scale miners.
With Government determined to exploit the
country’s bauxite and iron ore deposits, with the Ghana Integrated
Bauxite and Aluminum Development Authority set to spearhead this,
President Akufo-Addo was delighted about the progress made in a novel
technology being promoted by UMaT, which involves the use of plastic
waste to upgrade bauxite ore to yield 90% alumina, as against the
present grade of 40% to 45%.
“As a result of this technology,
the value of the ore will increase some tenfold. The research work being
undertaken here is invaluable, and will assist greatly in our nation’s
quest to transform our economy from a raw material producing and
exporting one to a value-added, industrialised economy,” he indicated.
It is for this reason that President Akufo-Addo congratulated the Vice
Chancellor, the staff and team of administrators, for sticking to UMaT’s
core mandate of engineering education, to complement efforts to advance
the National Policy of achieving 60:40 student ratio for the Sciences
as compared to the Humanities, through the promotion of Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
“I
wish to assure you that the Akufo-Addo Government will insist that the
process of equipping UMaT with the requisite logistics, involving the
rehabilitation and equipping of existing laboratories, and the
construction of new buildings, that is currently ongoing, will be
systematically pursued, to enable it deliver effectively on its mandate
of teaching, research and service to the community,” he said.
The
President continued, “I have been informed about the number of legacy
projects on campus. The energetic Minister for Lands and Natural
Resources, John Peter Amewu, has assured me that, through the Minerals
Development Fund, these legacy projects will be completed soon in
commemoration of today’s event.”
With the Wassa Fiase Traditional
Area donating 26 square kilometres of land to the University, for the
construction of a 20,000 student capacity campus, President Akufo-Addo
announced that “Government will give an annual special budgetary
allocation of five million cedis (GH¢5 million) to the University for
the realisation of the project.”
UMaT renamed
President Akufo-Addo congratulated the University Council of UMaT for its decision, in accordance with the Statutes of the University, to rename the institution after George Alfred Grant, the legendary Axim-born entrepreneur, ‘Paa Grant’.
“It is a most excellent decision,
which has received the agreement of the President of the Republic, so
that, once the parliamentary process has been completed, this University
will be called the George Grant University of Mines and Technology,
Tarkwa,” he said.
The President explained that it is wholly
fitting that “this great, modest man, who can lay legitimate claim to
being the father of modern Ghanaian nationalism, should be properly
honoured by a grateful posterity, i.e. by us who are the heirs and
beneficiaries of the freedom he so valiantly fought for, especially by
citizens of his native Western Region.”
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