UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES INAUGURATED (SPREAD, OCT 12)

A NEW tertiary educational institution, the University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies (UCAES), was inaugurated last Saturday.
The new university, the brainchild of the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, is housed in the old Cocoa College at Bunso in the Eastern Region.
The UCAES, which would offer academic programmes in agriculture and the environment, would start admitting students next year.
The colourful ceremony, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the installation of the Okyenhene, was attended by the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party in the 2008 elections, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo; the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo; his deputy, Mr Baba Jamal; the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Amissah-Arthur, and some Members of Parliament.
Other dignitaries who graced the occasion with their presence were the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawia; a delegation from the United States led by Rev (Dr) Deforest Soaries, an academician and reverend minister of the Baptist Church in New Jersey, local academicians, prominent chiefs and all the divisional and sub-chiefs of Akyem Abuakwa.
Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who unveiled a plague to inaugurate the new university, said the rationale behind its establishment was to produce skilled manpower to harness the agricultural potential and at the same time address environmental problems not only in Akyem Abuakwa but the entire country.
He said the decision to set up the university dated as far back to 1937 when the then Okyenhene, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, founded the Abuakwa State College at Kyebi. The college was intended to be followed by a tertiary institution, which has now come into fruition.
The Okyenhene said Akyem Abuakwa and Ghana as a whole had been blessed with vast arable land which had to be fully put to good use with the guidance of skilled personnel in agriculture and the environment.
“We have the resources, that is arable land to be fully exploited, and environmental degradation to be addressed and this is why the university has been set up to produce the skilled personnel in that respect to do away with poverty and improve the lot of not only Akyems but all Ghanaians,” the Okyenhene stated.
The Okyenhene, who paid glowing tribute to the late Professor Twum Barimah and all those who assisted in making it possible for the university to take off, advised parents to send their children to school, since education is the best legacy they could bequeath to them.
For his part, Mr Ofosu Ampofo said the establishment of the university was in the right direction, since there was no such tertiary institution to properly deal with agricultural and environmental issues.
The Regional Minister, who expressed disgust at the wanton destruction of the environment, especially the pollution of the Birim River by illegal miners (galamsey), warned the miners to immediately put a stop to their activities or “face the consequences any moment from now”.
Addressing the gathering, the Ga Mantse, King Tawiah III, appealed to the government to involve traditional rulers in any initiative that would improve the lot of the people and appealed to chiefs to follow the shining example of the Okyenhene.
The Rector of the UCAES, Professor Kwame Serbeh-Yiadom, told the gathering that thorough preparations had been made for a smooth take-off of the college, adding that “we have the resources for the new university”.
The Rev (Dr) Soaries said Africa, particularly Ghana, was not poor and that it had been exploited by colonialism, and praised the Okyenhene for taking steps that would improve the lot of the people.