Confusion Over Who is the President of Dominion University College

In just three years since its inception in 2012, Dominion University College (DUC) has had many presidents. Notable among them are Mr. Kwame Achampong-Kyei, the Executive Chairman of Glico Group, Professor Edward Dua Agyemang, former Auditor-General, Mr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah, and Justice Emile Short.

After Justice Emile Short resigned as both the Chairman of the Governing Council and the acting President of the University College in January 2014, a task force of four members was put together to find a suitable replacement.

Under the Chairmanship of Professor Paul Buah-Bassuah of the Physics Department at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), which is the mentoring institution of DUC, the task force interviewed two candidates for the position of presidency for the University College on 20th January, 2014.

The two candidates were Dr. Felix Hammond and Professor Benony Kwaku Gordor. Given the backgrounds and the experiences of the two candidates, the job was eventually given to the former.

In February 2014, Dr. Felix Hammond, who after the appointment became “Professor” Felix Hammond, was introduced to Faculty members, staff and students as the President of the University College by the Chancellor, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, the General Overseer of Action Chapel International, the sponsoring church of the University College.

It is surprising to note that at the time of the interview leading to his appointment as the President of DUC, Professor Felix Hammond was and still is a full-time Dean at the Faculty of Business Administration of the Pentecost University College.
This dual and position of Professor Felix Hammond got to the attention of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and on questioning the authorities of DUC, the Acting Registrar, Mr. David Asante, who was handpicked by Professor Felix Hammond for that position, indicated in a letter to NAB that Professor Felix Hammond was a consultant to the University College, but not its President.
That action stalled DUC’s institutional accreditation application process with NAB because the latter was insisting that there should be a substantive head before it could grant institutional accreditation to the University College and also allow it to enroll new students.

To go round this problem, Professor Felix Hammond and Mr. David Asante last February, got the Governing Council of the University College to approve the appointment of Professor K. Opoku-Agyemang who is currently with the English Department at the University of Cape Coast as the new President.
He was to start work officially as the new President of DUC on 1st April, 2015, but has still not shown up as at the time of writing this piece.

In view of the above apparent vacuum and a cover up of a sort, many people who have expertise in tertiary education have been asking questions such as Who is the real President of DUC? Is it the consultant Professor Felix Hammond? Or the awaiting President, Professor K. Opoku-Agyemang, who is still a full-time faculty member at UCC? Is Archbishop Duncan-Williams aware of this duplicity in the University College of which he is the Chancellor? Why has NAB allowed such an act to persist when they could have easily stopped it? Is Pentecost University College aware that one of its staff while still a Dean of their Faculty of Business Administration has also been working in the capacity of President of a competitor?

As we wait for answers to the above questions, readers may want to know that DUC did set aside NAB’s directive and recruit two batches of students, who have even written end-of-semester examinations, perhaps at the full knowledge of the mentoring institution--UCC, buthave not gone through matriculation. What is really going on?

Source: New Crusading Guide