Professor Enoch Opoku Antwi, a governance and leadership expert, has described some of the private awards organised in honour of Ministers of State and Chief Executives of public institutions as “laughable”.
He says some of these private awards are a means of making money, not for the supposed purposes cited for those honours.
His comments come on the back of an award ceremony organised over the weekend to honour government appointees, which has generated controversy, with some government appointees indicating they were contacted to pay money for the award.
The Presidency has since issued a directive to all Ministers of State, CEOs of state institutions and other public offices to desist from participating in private award schemes, until it has been authorised by the Presidency.
Prof. Antwi, highlighting some of the main issues contained in the President’s warning on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Monday, June 8, 2026, indicated that the Presidency’s concern that the proliferation of such awards could undermine the Government’s integrity is true, especially when some of the awards ridicule logic.
“The Government is saying that it could undermine the integrity of the Government. Yes, it can really undermine the integrity of the Government because some of these awards are laughable,” he stated, citing the infamous Dr. UN awards as an example.
“If you remember Dr. UN, I remember vividly what happened and individuals were ridiculed about the authenticity of such awards because they hit you as a Minister or CEO when they think that you deserve an award and you think that it’s going to make your wardrobe look nicer or the public think that you’re doing a good job.”
Prof. Antwi lauded President Mahama for the action taken, saying many would’ve craved unmerited awards, with the organisers’ credibility being suspicious.
He says true leaders don’t crave for awards, but rather let their work speak for itself. He cited President Mahama as one such leader, focused on transforming the economy rather than seeking accolades.
“I’m a servant leader and what most servant leaders do is that they don’t want to be seen or heard. They always remain at the backburner and you don’t see the work that they’re doing. And our President is one typical example of a servant leader who is healing us now with some of great ideas. Because if you don’t ban them, individuals are going to scramble for a lot of awards.”
He further indicated that the true measure of leadership is impact and not awards.
