Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday inaugurated a 26-member Task Force at the Castle, Osu, to prepare the ground for the establishment of two public Universities, one in Ho and the other in Sunyani.
The two Universities are University of Allied Sciences at Ho in the Volta Region with campus at Hohoe and University of Energy and Natural Resources to be located at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The task force drawn from the academia is under the chairmanship of Professor Sefa Dede, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of
Ghana.
It is charged to submit its proposals and recommendations within a reasonable time to enable government to make an informed decision on the matter.
Mr. Mahama reminded the task force that "the task of setting up two Universities from the scratch does not happen easily but I can trust that each and every one of you will bring his or her expertise to bear on the work of the Task Force to ensure a high degree of success".
Mr. Mahama said the government had great confidence in the ability and capability of every person serving on the Task Force and urged members to undertake these daunting responsibilities with all the passion, zeal and
commitment required to make the venture a success.
The Vice President said the establishment of the two Universities was to redeem the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2008 campaign promise to Ghanaians to promote a system of excellent tertiary education that will provide expansion of knowledge which would make Ghana achieve her Millennium Development Goal on education.
Dr. Christina Amoako-Nuamah, Convenor and a member of the Policy and Monitoring Unit at the Presidency, urged the members and their regional
ministers Mr. Joseph Amenorwode, Volta Regional Minister and Mr. Nyamekye Marfo, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, as well as the Minister of Education, Mr. Alex Tettey-Enyo, to work hard to ensure that the Task Force achieved its objectives.
Prof. Sefa Dede asked that the Task Force be given adequate logistics to ensure that members discharged the onerous task entrusted to them.