AUCC To Honour Komla Dumor

The Late Komla Dumor
The Academic Board of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) has approved a proposal to establish the Komla Dumor Centre for Broadcast Journalism from September this year.

Named after the late iconic African broadcaster, Komla Dumor of Ghana, the Centre will design special training programmes, workshops, public lectures, international conferences, and publish papers and books on broadcasting.

According to a release, AUCC management’s acceptance to honour Komla Dumor hinged on a tribute the AUCC founder, Kojo Yankah, presented during the funeral of the late media practitioner, calling on communication institutions to set the pace to immortalize him (Dumor).

The founder further noted that ‘though Komla Dumor did not enroll to go through formal journalism training, he studied and practised the profession through hard work, confidence and held on to a will to succeed to make Africa proud.’

Kojo Yankah explained among other reasons that Komla Dumor epitomized one of the core values that AUCC was built upon – pursuing excellence – in his chosen profession (journalism) till he became one of the most recognised journalists at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

‘He was also a critical and independent thinker whose passion for creativity and innovation led him to develop his own unique on-air style that allowed him to seamlessly move between TV and radio,’ the tribute intimated.

‘Komla’s love for Africa and passion for telling the African story further resonates powerfully with AUCC’s core value #4, which is the ‘respect for African cultural values,’ having travelled to 20 African countries to interview the movers and the shakers of the continent and wielding considerable influence on how Africa was covered by the BBC.

‘He also personified AUCC’S strong belief in ‘service to the community’ by going as far us volunteering extra shifts for colleagues at his work place, in spite of his own busy schedules,’ the AUCC founder observed .

The father of Komla Dumor, Professor Ernest Dumor, has accepted to be the first Chairman of the Komla Dumor Centre for Broadcast Journalism.

Prof. Dumor, acknowledging the honour done to his late son by AUCC, said ‘Komla’s mother and I had an influence on him but we are grateful that he has become an icon for many and a gem for many more to come.’

Komla Dumor passed away on January 18, 2014 while working for the BBC, after a successful career with Joy FM in Ghana.

The Centre will be officially launched in the latter part of 2014.

By Solomon Ofori