By: Nicholas Osei-Wusu
A former Minister for Defence in the previous New Patriotic Party, NPP government, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, has been inducted as the first ever Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University with a charge to him to use his expertise and social networks to help propel the University into a globally recognized and accepted academic and skills training institution.
Speaking at the event, the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia used the occasion to tout government’s plans and interventions for technical, vocational and skills training as the new paradigm in youth jobs creation in the country.
With his induction as the Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University, KsTU, Dr. Kwame Addo Kuffuor has become the first ever Chancellor of any technical university in the country since the conversion and upgrading of polytechnics into a tertiary technical and skills training entity.
Dr. Kwame Addo Kuffuor, who is on record as the only person to have held two cabinet ministerial portfolios, Defence and Interior, simultaneously, is a medical doctor by profession and owns the Kuffuor Clinic at Adum in Kumasi.
He is the biological brother of former President John Agyekum Kuffuor and is a royal of the Apagya family of Asanteman.
The Kumasi Technical University, established in 1954 as the Kumasi Technical Institute, KTI, until now was ran by a governing Council and management running postgraduate, undergraduate and certificate programmes mainly in the engineering, technical and vocational skills areas with less humanities.
The induction ceremony was graced by many dignitaries ranging from politicians through the clergy, chieftaincy to the medical fraternity.
Prominent among them were former President Kuffuor, as well as Ministers for Parliamentary Affairs and Education.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia led Dr. Addo Kuffuor to swear the Oaths of Office and Secrecy.
He was thereafter installed by the University’s Governing Council, Professor Ben Baffoe-Bonnie.
According to the Council Chairman, the Council accepted the recommendation of a committee set up to search for a suitable person for the Chancellorship position of Dr. Addo Kuffuor in June this year after a rigorous process.
He expressed confidence and trust in the first Chancellor to use his expertise, professional and social networks to propel the technical university into a globally recognized training institution capable of producing the quality of graduates being sought for by industry and who are capable of solving current socio-economic challenges.
In his inaugural address, the Chancellor, Dr. Kwame Addo Kuffuor, thanked the appointing authority for the trust and confidence reposed in him and assured not to interfere unnecessarily in the day-to-day administration of the university.
He promised to support the university produce critical and creative youth capable of competing favorably with others anywhere in the world while projecting the institution as one of the best in the fields of research, innovation and skills training.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, described Dr Addo Kuffuor as worthy of his investiture considering his expertise and vast expertise in various fields of endeavor.
The Vice President used the occasion to tout government’s interventions in promoting technical, vocational and skills training as not just an alternative to the grammar type of formal education, but the viable vehicle toward sustainable jobs and wealth creation among the youth in the country.
