Prez Akufo-Addo wants UDS renamed after Rawlings but…

Twice, former President J.J, Rawlings rejected calls for the University for Development Studies (UDS) to be named after him.

But the decision to turn down the offer might be buried with him as President Nana Akufo-Addo has again urged the Governing Council of the University to consider his earlier proposal to rename the university after the late former president Jerry John Rawlings.

Although the late former president Rawlings declined President Akufo-Addo’s request to rename the university after him in 2017 and 2019, the president still believes it’s a good call.

“If Rawlings’ own sense of modesty probably compelled him to decline such a proposal while he was alive, let the people’s voice now prevail, on his passing, to enable us to put on record: The J. J. Rawlings University for Development Studies,” he said at the 21st UDS congregation at the Central Campus on Saturday.

In a glowing tribute to the late former President Rawlings, the president reiterated how pivotal the late Rawlings had been in the establishment of the UDS.

“If this nation tearfully grieves so does the University for Development, particularly, to commemorate the pivotal role President Rawlings played in establishing and propping up UDS as a quintessential university located within a poor environment that investigates and seeks to address community needs,” he said.

The UDS started in 1992 as the late President’s vision to bridge the gap between the northern and the southern parts of the country. He used his prize money from the World Food Prize of $50,000 as seed money to fund the establishment of the first university in the then three northern regions of the country.

That sacrifice, President Akufo-Addo said deserved recognition.

“UDS is indeed a monumental achievement of Jerry Rawlings, in epitomising the nation’s drive towards national integration and social equity,” he said.

Rawling’s decision

The late former president in April 2019 asked the Ministry of Education to remove the clause that sought to rename the university after him in the new University Bill.

In a statement, Rawlings reiterated his earlier position with which he turned down a similar request in 2017.

President Rawlings, therefore, asked the Education Minister, Matthew Opoku Premepeh to without delay, withdraw that aspect of the Bill before it is laid before Parliament.

His reason was that he had a long-standing principle not to have national monuments and facilities named after him.

In November 2015 when the Mahama administration offered to name the Offshore Cape Three Points Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel after him, he turned down the offer as well.