Baba Jamal goofed; Mills had 2nd Class Upper, not 1st Class

President Mills obtained Second Class (Upper) from the University of Ghana contrary to claims by a deputy Information Minister that he had First Class, Communication Director at the the presidency has confirmed.

Information available to Myjoyonline.com from the Office of the President indicates that Koku Anyidoho has been directed by the president to correct the misinformation.

Professor Mills had a Bachelor’s Degree and Professional Certificate in Law in 1967 from the University of Ghana. Many reports of the president’s scholastic acumen suggest that he obtained a First Class from school.

A deputy Minister of Information Baba Jamal this week buttressed claims that President Mills had a first class, and used that as a basis to cast aspersion at NPP flag-bearer Nana Akufo-Addo, who had a Third Class in Economics in the same year at the same university, arguing that Prof. Mills would make a better president than Nana Addo.

The NPP flag-bearer, addressing the Tertiary Education Students Conference (TESCON) of the NPP at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi last week, called for visionary leaders who think big, act big and do big things to develop the country.

But according to Baba Jamal, the NPP flag-bearer does not have the moral right to talk about intelligence and vision when he obtained a Third Class from the University.

“It is a statement of fact that they (Mills and Nana Addo) sat in the same classroom but one had First Class and the other had Third Class,” he added.

“Prof Mills had his doctorate degree at the age of 27 years, he taught law for 25 years and was the boss of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for ten years whiles Nana Addo was just a lawyer,” he said on Asempa FM’s programme Thursday, insisting there are light years between the two leaders in terms of abilities and capacity to deliver.

But Myjoyonline.com checks at the presidency indicates that Baba Jamal got his facts wrong.

"His Excellency Professor Mills as a matter of fact had a Second Class (Upper Division),” a source told Myjoyonline.com on Saturday.

Communications Director at the Presidency Koku Anyidoho told Joy News that the President has admitted obtaining a Second Class Upper and has subsequently directed that the anomaly put out by his deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal, be corrected as soon as possible.

A member of the opposition New Patriotic Party Mike Ocquaye Jnr had doubted that President Mills had a First Class. He earlier dared the President and his supporters to provide proof that he indeed obtained a First Class at the University of Ghana.

Speaking on Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile Saturday, Mike Ocquaye Jnr maintained: “Baba Jamal, I put it to you that President Mills did not get a First Class. I am reliably informed that he did not get a first class; he got a 2:1, Second Class Upper.”

“So why do you come and lie to Ghanaians that he got a first class,” he quizzed.


by Isaac Essel / myjoyonline.com
http://politics.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201111/76026.php