The academic credentials of Professor Edward Dua Agyeman, a former Board Chairman of the Ghana Audit Service, became a subject of contention at a defamation case at the Accra High Court.
Prof. Dua Agyeman sued the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, in 2018 for defamation.
Mr Asiedu Nketia is facing a GH¢20 million defamation suit for claiming that Prof. Agyeman generated fake audit reports resulting in him being sacked by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana.
Cross examination
The Deputy Director- General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Augustine Ocloo, is testifying as a defence witness over investigations into Prof. Agyeman’s credentials as a Professor.
During the cross –examination, counsel for the plaintiff, Gary Nimako Marfo, asked Prof. Ocloo whether he personally verified the basis of the letter that questioned his client’s qualification as a professor, to which the witness answered that he did not personally see the petition.
“The petition did not come to me directly because we work as a team,’ he added.
Pressed further, Prof. Ocloo could not confirm whether the letter from GTEC asking for proof of the process that led to the professorship was delivered to Prof. Dua-Agyeman.
Counsel then suggested that the non-delivery of the letter to his client and the subsequent publication in Graphic Online on June 18, 2025, were deliberate attempts to defame the plaintiff.
Lawyer for the defendant, Samuel Cudjoe, raised an objection, arguing that there was no defamation as the plaintiff responded to the letter from GTEC in another publication in Graphic Online but the court overruled the objection.
Mr Marfo then questioned GTEC’s verification process regarding Professor Agyeman’s alleged PhD and professorship from Warmborough College, reportedly earned in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Prof. Ocloo reiterated that Warmborough lacked accreditation to award degrees or appoint professors, citing findings from GTEC’s Credential Evaluation Department.
However, when asked if GTEC had directly contacted Warmborough, the witness replied that the commission relied on “established procedures” but provided no evidence of direct communication.
Examination-in-Chief
Prior to the cross-examination, Mr Cudjoe led the witness to give his evidence-in chief, in which he detailed GTEC’s efforts to clampdown on unearned academic titles.
According to him, during the exercise, Prof. Dua Agyeman’s name came up, which led GTEC to send two letters to Prof. Agyeman’s last known address at the Ghana Audit Service, requesting documentation for his professorial title.
The witness further testified that the plaintiff’s claim of lecturing in 2004 was “false,” as his qualifications at the time—a bachelor’s degree, a teacher’s certificate, and an ACCA certification—did not meet the minimum requirement of a master’s degree for a lecturing position.
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