Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Godfred Bokpin, has urged a balanced approach in addressing the misuse of academic and honorary titles, calling for education and regulation rather than reliance on public shaming.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, August 23, Prof. Bokpin acknowledged recent concerns about the indiscriminate use of titles, but stressed that some individuals may not fully understand the proper conventions.

“I believe that it would also come with proper education. I felt a bit that the naming and shaming and all of these things – perhaps is there another way we could manage it? Because for all you know, some of them probably didn’t know how this was supposed to be used this way, or that way. It is also possible that they have been prompted and they decided to disregard it. But I think the message is quite clear – there are approved channels that you can get this legitimately and go through all of that,” he explained.

He argued that the country must move beyond what he described as a culture of “title worship”, emphasising productivity and performance as the true measures of accomplishment.

“As a country we should move beyond that. We should be driven by productivity, by performance – that should be our consideration rather than we seem to worship titles and parade all these things. The question is, what have you done? You are called this, what have you done? What is the transformation? What is the productivity?” Prof. Bokpin asked.

He further challenged even those who had earned titles legitimately to ensure that their qualifications translated into positive impact on teaching, research and society.

“Even those who have acquired it genuinely and through the hard work, how are we using it to impact society? How is it reflecting in how we engage students, teaching and the rest?” he queried.

While supporting regulation to sanitise the sector, he said it must be accompanied by clear guidelines and sensitisation to ensure proper use.

“I agree that regulation is very important; we need to sanitise the sector. It should also come with education and guidelines for its usage. In fact, some people are even struggling on how to even write the ‘Doctor’ by their names,” he added.