Dr. UN-KNUST Brouhaha: Blakk Rasta's Argument Simply Not Tenable

For some time now, a private Ghanaian citizen called Kwame Fordjour, better known as Dr. UN (aka “WyClef”), has been passing himself off as a scholar of great preeminence. This smiley bloke claims to be an alumnus of top-flight academic institutions viz. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology - KNUST (Ghana), University of Sussex (UK) and Harvard University (USA).

In a recent TV interview on the Delay Show, the host Deloris Frimpong Manso aka (Delay) grilled Dr. UN on his self-proclaimed scholarly credentials. He vehemently asserted that he was indeed a student of the aforementioned prestigious universities and went on to defy people to prove otherwise.

In that same interview with Delay, Dr. UN mentioned Blakk Rasta (a very renowned Ghanaian broadcaster cum musician) as one of his schoolmates at KNUST and also somebody who could vouch for his KNUST "alumnus status".

His “defense lawyer”, Blakk Rasta unhesitatingly answered his call and came out with all guns blazing to vociferously defend Dr. UN and continued to reiterate that Dr. UN was a former student of Social Science at KNUST as he himself (Dr. UN) had claimed.

In his defence, Blakk Rasta stated that he frequently met Dr. UN inside the studio of the defunct “Contatto Radio” at Katanga, or University Hall as it is officially known at KNUST. He further talked about how Dr. UN was always in the studio of this radio station which made him (Blakk Rasta) sometimes wondered if he was also a student of the university (KNUST).

Well, I would like to let Blakk Rasta know that, not everyone you see or meet regularly on campus is a student of the institution. There are some folks who live or "perch" with their friends/relatives on campus (a very popular phenomenon in public universities in Ghana) and pose as students of the school. Such individuals sometimes join the “real” students for lectures to create the impression that they also belong to the academic community.

It will interest all and sundry to also know that, some of these "fake" students go as far as borrowing academic gowns from friends/relatives who are students/graduands of the school on graduation days so as to take pictures to display on social media, et cetera. All these are ruses that these phony characters use to hoodwink people.

So Blakk Rasta's contention that he used to see him (Dr. UN) at Katanga and also inside Contatto Radio studio doesn't in anyway prove Dr. UN’s case.

Blakk even mentioned in his argument that he often wondered if he was also a KNUST student just like them owing to the fact he was always in the studio of Contatto Radio. I think that statement from Blakk Rasta somewhat call into question whether Dr. UN was truly a student of KNUST or just one of those campus “hangers-on”.

Ask yourself, which "serious" homo sapiens would enroll at a prestigious university like KNUST and would not take part in academic activities, but rather choose to spend all his time in the studio of a radio station that is not even the official campus radio station of the university?

It must be put on record that, Contatto Radio was an "unlicensed" campus radio station operated by some KNUST students resident at University Hall (Katanga), and thus Blakk Rasta’s assertion that Contatto Radio was Ghana’s first private radio station is simply untrue. It’s nothing but a revisionist view.

Accra-based station, Joy 99.FM remains Ghana’s first private radio station owing to the fact that it was the first privately owned radio station to be licensed in Ghana. This was in May, 1995 – a watershed moment in the history of Ghana’s broadcasting/media industry.

Back to Contatto! The management of KNUST were never involved in Contatto Radio’s affairs, which is why when the university was finally ready to operate a campus radio station, they ‘seized’ the 94.3 frequency modulation (FM) dial from Contatto Radio and then established Focus 94.3FM, which is today the official campus radio station of KNUST.

Even if it was the university authorities that were in charge of Contatto Radio when Dr. UN was working there, it doesn't automatically mean he was a student of KNUST. This is because not everyone who works at a campus radio station is a student or alumnus of the school.

When I was a student broadcaster cum reporter/producer at Radio Univers 105.7Mhz (the Voice of Legon), there were some employees/workers/volunteers who were neither students nor former students of Ghana’s premier university - University of Ghana.

Students from other tertiary institutions within the Legon enclave, namely the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) and Wisconsin International University College, are also allowed to work at Radio Univers because their schools don’t have a campus radio station.

Clearly, Blakk Rasta's defence doesn't substantiate Dr. UN's claim. There's a reason why schools/colleges/universities give out admission letters, student number/student ID cards and also award certificates to students after a successful completion of a course of study in the school. This is done to separate the “real McCoy” from impostors. Until people show these academic documents, and I mean the “authentic” ones because it could be forged, they ought to be disregarded.

How come none of the people Dr. UN was in the same department with or studied the same course with at KNUST have not come out to defend him? Blakk Rasta's only argument was that he used to see him at Katanga and also inside the studio of Contatto Radio (a pirate radio station), which is not a strong evidence.

One other tale I find quite ludicrous was when Dr. UN told Delay during the interview that he used his birth name “Kwame Fordjour” at KNUST but changed it to “Wayne Winston” when he got to the UK for his post-graduate degree (Master’s degree). When Delay probe further and asked what name he used in Harvard, he told her he went back to his original name, “Kwame Fordjour”.

What a cock and bull story? Is it not funny how one person kept changing names in schools just like that? This whole fairy story is nothing but a complete balderdash.

Another claim Dr. UN made on the Delay Show that threw me into stitches was his claim that he attended University of Sussex in London. Anyone who knows where this university is situated in the UK would concur with me that it ain’t in London. This is just like someone claiming to have attended University of Ghana at Sogakope. How, chale?

Dr. UN probably heard the university’s name, "Sussex" (pronounced "success") somewhere, liked it and decided to add it to his "CV lies".

The "Global Studies" course he claims he studied on scholarship at Harvard for his “Doctor of Philosophy” (PhD) is not even among the PhD programs offered by Harvard. One would then wonder which Harvard this guy was talking about. Perhaps, he meant Harvard College at Kokomlemle in Accra, Ghana and not the one at Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States of America.

A couple of years ago, a “childhood friend” of his called Jones Gyedu (a Senior Medical Officer with Ghana Health Service) came out to ‘expose’ him. Dr. Gyedu recounted how Dr. UN was deported at the Heathrow Airport in London some years ago when he tried to emigrate to the UK.

That's not all, his “childhood friend” narrated how he was once apprehended for collecting money from some parents in Kumasi in order to facilitate KNUST admission for their children. Coupled with this, he was allegedly arrested for issuing out fake KNUST certificates to unsuspecting victims, and blah blah blah.

It is obvious this self-styled Harvard scholar is so enamoured of KNUST and would do anything to associate himself with the university. And I can’t fathom out why the management of the university still has not come out to issue any statement on this whole saga.

No malicious feelings, just exercising my right to freedom of speech.

Long live, Dr. UN! LOL.

By: Eugene Selorm Owusu