** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **

Weah, may have been duped - Daily Sun

OH WEAH! Liberia’s Presidential elections hopeful, George Opong Weah, may
have been duped into bogus certificate scam that may mar his ambition

By BEN MEMULETIWON
Monday, April 18, 2005

Liberia’s presidential hopeful, George Opong Weah, may have his childhood
dream of liberating his people from poverty and want scuttled.

The former World Footballer of the Year is now spending more time to fight
for his credibility than on his presidential campaign. He was fingered to
have fallen easy prey to certificate racket syndicate who have awarded a
dubious certificate known as ‘Oluwole’ in the Nigerian parlance.

Though the soccer legend and his camp are fighting frantically to save his
face, his political foes seem to have the upper hand as the scam enjoys
prominent space on the internet.
Weah was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sports Management from the
Parkwood University in London. But Weah says he has no knowledge of how the
Parkwood degree appeared in his Curriculum Vitae and his website.
A friend of Weah who said he was stunned to his marrow by the messy show is,
however, pointing accusing fingers at Weah’s detractors.

“We have no idea how the bogus information appeared on the candidate’s
website,” Weah’s press officer defends. “I guess it must have been put there
without Weah’s knowledge. Whoever included the Parkwood University
information may have acted independent of the candidate’s political wing.”
The report on the internet also added that George Weah claimed he has
received several certificates and diplomas in Coaching and Sports
Management, while his profile revealed that an Honourary Doctorate degree in
Humanity was bestowed on the man who spent a fortune to get Liberian kids
out of the jungles and replaced their guns with balls. The honour was said
to have been given to him by the A.M.E Zion University College in Liberia in
1999.
Weah’s political enemies are raising dust, wanting to know when he graduated
from the Parkwood and if really he attended the school or sat for any
examinations.

But investigation by the Daily Observer revealed that Parkwood is notorious
for certificate scam. The University is described as one of the institutions
selling diplomas of all categories to desperate customers. It is renown to
be deeply involved in what they call diploma-for-purchase scam.
“This is not an online college. It’s simply an opportunity for fraud,” said
Rick Koza, a professor of Business Ethics.

One of Koza’s students was reported to have, in 2002, uncovered an online
institute called Parkwood University which, for a mere $400, will send you a
Ph. D or MBA while an undergraduate degree costs $1,000 .

“We called and a voicemail instructed us to leave a message, with a promise
to call us back within 72 hours. The message explained the company is based
overseas,” Koza added.
It was also reported that one Dr George Gollin recently obtained a
bachelor’s and master’s and a second doctorate in systems engineering for
#4,000 by Parkwood University where Weah may have also earned his.

When Weah declared his interest in his country’s No. 1 seat in the October
2005 elections, his rivals turned the searchligt on his educational
background. And the verdict was: This man is inexperienced and not educated.
He was utterly chasticed.

Amazingly, a degree suddenly dropped from the blues. Then came suspicion,
apprehension and frantic defence. Some of his supporters were stunned while
some raised the dust, saying Weah is too refined to indulge in such scam.
“Some people just want to damage Weah’s credibility,” one of his supporters
said. “Whatever the case may be the battle has begun. You want to tell me
that Opong will lie about his education? I still don’t believe it. I think
it is a setup.”

It is, however, argued that the certificate saga won’t diminish Weah’s
stature in Liberia and neither would it stop him from clinching the mantle
of rulership in Liberia.
Here is what Gollin said about Parkwood University : About two years ago, we
started to get a lot of popup spam that was advertising "better lives" said
Gollin. He said after a few months of receiving junk emails, he got mad and
decided to dial the number advertised. According to him, a sales
representative from the Parkwood University called back and offered him a
degree in engineering for $1,000. The professor, who has a Ph D from
Princeton University, was also told he would get the diploma in 10 days.

"My first reaction was, oh, this is really amusing," said Gollin, who
compared Parkwood’s ads to "a scam like exercise equipment that does not
make you look good as the photo." He quickly got hooked on the idea of
uncovering other fake schools and started searching Google for websites that
offer the same quickie diplomas as Parkwood. "Most of the fake universities
claimed to be based in London, but the company’s only presence here was a
post office box," said the expert, who have done extensive study on diploma
mills.

As investigation continues to uncover the bogus diploma scam involving Weah,
it was discovered that many of the fake schools are claiming to be
registered in Liberia, which has most of its schools vandalized or closed
due to the prolonged civil war. "Attempting to profit from the conditions in
Liberia is akin to removing the gold fillings from a helpless person,"
Gollin lamented.
Investigation revealed that many of the online diploma mills claim that they
obtain accreditation, often from Liberia. A handful have paid $50,000 to buy
accreditation from the National Board of Education, which uses a Washington
DC post office box and says it is acting on behalf of the Liberian
government, Gollin disclosed.

One of the bogus universities, St. Regis, claims to be accredited by the
Liberian government. However, the Liberian embassy in Washington DC has
denied the existence of any such accreditation. In the United States. Gollin
noted, bona fide colleges and universities don’t buy accreditation. It is
done by auditing teams that set universal standards of excellence, allowing
students in one state to transfer to schools in other states.

The grand daddy of such operation is the University Degree Program, which
began operating in mid-1990’s. It offered diplomas from bogus institutions
with names like the University of Wexford, Shelburne University and the
University of Pamers Green. In 2003, after an investigation by the Federal
Trade Commission, its owners turned over $100,000 in profits and promised to
stay out of the degree-selling business.

To further investigate the existence of Parkwood, this writer placed a
telephone call to the British consulate in New York and a female
receptionist there said she could not help with the inquiry. However, when
asked if she knew anything about a Parkwood University in London, she simply
put it this way. "I don’t know about it, but check the internet or call back
next time." When the writer checked for the list of Universities in London
via the internet, Parkwood was not listed as one of them.

_________________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee®
Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:

        http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html

AAM Website:  http://www.africanassociation.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------