Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has strongly supported the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission’s (GTEC) drive to expose and penalise individuals using unearned professorial and doctoral titles, describing the initiative as essential for restoring integrity to Ghana’s higher education system.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to GTEC to discuss legal education reforms, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie commended the Commission’s “naming and shaming” approach, noting that it enjoys widespread silent support despite resistance from some quarters.
“We have always known that professors are a very rare breed of people, but now everybody is a professor; everybody is a doctor, and you start wondering where we are getting to,” he said. “This sanitisation that is going on is a good thing. If you have brought it for public support, we all support it. Silently, there are many who cannot speak out, but we all support you—so continue with what you are doing.”
Reflecting on his childhood in Goaso, the Chief Justice recalled a time when academic titles commanded deep respect and were exceedingly rare.
“As a village boy growing up in Goaso, we knew of only two kinds of professors. In the 1980s, the only professor we knew was Dr Busia, and everyone thought he was extraordinary. The other ‘professors’ were magicians, because people thought they were doing something out of the ordinary,” he said with humour.
He also shared an experience from Nigeria in the 1980s, where titles like “Chief Doctor” were common, adding that Ghana now risks surpassing that level of title proliferation if unchecked.
GTEC Director-General, Professor Abdulai Ahmed Jinapor, welcomed the Chief Justice’s endorsement and revealed that the Commission’s sanitisation efforts will extend beyond academia to other professions, including the legal sector.
“My Lord, this issue is not only about fake doctors; we are now dealing with fake professors, and if we are not careful, we may even get fake Chief Justices,” Prof. Jinapor cautioned. “The environment needs to be sanitised, and this sanity should not be limited to academia alone.”
He disclosed that GTEC is investigating cases of individuals attempting to sit law examinations without the required qualifications, with findings to be forwarded to the General Legal Council for action.
“You cannot have a corrupted legal system,” he emphasised. “The essence of legal education is to fight the wrongs in society, and that is why we must ensure integrity at every level.”
The GTEC campaign, which has uncovered questionable credentials among some institutional leaders over the past year, continues to spark national debate as authorities work to safeguard the credibility of Ghana’s educational and professional landscape.
