Mahama Defends Lincoln University Ties After Honorary Degree Snub Over Anti-Gay Bill

President John Dramani Mahama has moved to preserve Ghana’s storied relationship with Lincoln University after the Pennsylvania institution withdrew a planned honorary doctorate on a decision reportedly triggered by concerns over Ghana’s controversial anti-gay legislation.

The university is understood to have pulled the honour in response to the country’s proposed Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, a piece of legislation that has drawn mounting criticism from international human rights groups and foreign institutions alike.

Speaking to members of the Ghanaian diaspora in Philadelphia, Mahama struck a measured tone, declining to let the diplomatic slight cloud what he described as a bond rooted in African history.

“Whatever disagreements have come up, for me, Lincoln University holds a special place in my heart,” he told the gathering. “Because those are hallowed grounds for Ghana. It is part of our history.”

At the heart of that history is Kwame Nkrumah the Ghana’s founding president and pan-African icon who studied at Lincoln before returning home to lead the country to independence in 1957. For Mahama, that legacy is inseparable from the nation’s identity.

“We cannot divorce Lincoln University from the history of Ghana,” he said. “That is where our first President, Osagyefuo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was nurtured with his intellectual capacity and his Pan-Africanist spirit.”

The episode underscores the widening international pressure on Accra over the proposed bill, even as Ghanaian officials maintain that the legislation reflects sovereign national values. For now, the President appears determined to honour the past even as the present remains contested.