Gbese Mantse, three others honoured

The Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayibonte II, and three others have been honoured for their selfless services to the nation.

The Riches Theological University College at Koforidua in the Eastern Region honoured the three with honorary doctorate degrees in Divinity. 

The citation accompanying Nii Ayibonte’s award said he was recognised for his dedicated services to the nation through football administration, boxing management, entrepreneurship, the chieftaincy institution and philanthropic activities.

Nii Ayibonte is also the Adonten of the Ga State and member of both the Ga Traditional Council and the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs.

The three other recipients of the honorary degrees are Bob Smith Junior, aka Diabolo Man, a Ghanaian actor who has been in the film industry for many years; Seth Ofosu Kwabi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Asikafo Herbal Centre and Clinic at Chantan, and Bishop Charles Teye Nartey of the Riches House of Ministries and Clergy Council.

The ceremony took place at the Wesleyan Cathedral on the Asafoatse Nettey Road in Accra last Saturday and was witnessed by friends, relatives and well-wishers, including chiefs and politicians.

Honorary degrees

The Chairman and Chancellor of the college, Bishop Dr Richard Offei, explained that honorary degrees were neither academic nor professional qualifications in the true sense.

According to him, ‘honoris causa’ is Latin for “for the sake of honour”, for which reason the recipient of such an honour was not required to go through rigorous academic training or formal education before being recognised by an institution.

Bishop Dr Offei said the honorary degrees in the case of the four recipients were reserved for eminent individuals who had made significant contributions to national and international development, adding that recipients of such honours were mostly leading scholars, discoverers, investors, authors, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, social activists and leaders in political and traditional governance.

Selection process

He said the recipients were selected through a nomination process established by the executive board of the college, with the approval of the chancellor, to ensure that only people who had made an impact on society were honoured.

The Riches Bible College and Clergy Council, now Riches Theological University College, was established as a theological institution in 2009 with the aim to train, ordain and bestow awards on eminent persons who have made a great impact on people and society.

The college is fully accredited by the worldwide Ecumenical Accreditation Network of the USA and represented in Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Nigeria.