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The Pro-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof Kwesi Yankah, could not have expressed his worry about the proliferation of titles at a better time than now. Establishing a prosperous entrepreneurial church of God would almost certainly require the leader to spot a doctorate, verifiable or not. Yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr. Hannah Louisa Bisiw, almost flipped when she was called Hannah without the Dr. preceding it during a media programme. The deputy minister really wanted her veterinary surgery degree or certificate bestowed upon her by a Cuban polytechnic acknowledged. It does not matter that she has not acquired any field experience treating rhinderpest, rabies, coccidiosis or newscastle disease on a poultry farm, besides administering oxytetracline injections on the Rawlingses� Alsatians or Corgi dogs at Ridge or Adjiringanor. Times have changed and so have the values of academic honorifics multiplied, but what can the authorities in academia do about the trend in a liberal world where unfettered freedoms prevail and protected by law. If only the Prof�s words could change the trend, standards could be maintained or even enhanced but unfortunately, this is but an Utopian dream, unattainable under the prevailing circumstances. In a society where individual entrepreneurial efforts define success or failure such as ours, the freedom to apply titles by individuals as they so wish is uncontrollable. Much as the contrary of the foregone would have been ideal, it is unattainable and we just have to live with the status quo, the Prof�s concern notwithstanding. Consider the very successful church leaders with appendages outside Ghana deciding unilaterally on whether to precede their names with Bishop or Doctors. Must they be stopped? And by whom? With congregations or flocks running into several thousands and cash flows in millions of dollars, these very rich establishments can decide on their own what titles to bestow on themselves. Times have changed and continue to change, with things which were aberrations yesterday, now norms. We may therefore as well just watch as the Lotto Doctor at Tema station relishes his title as he works on his permutations and forecasts to the admiration of his audience who find nothing wrong with their man�s title. After all, they hold him in high esteem for showing an exceptional knowledge in coming up with winnable numbers. For them therefore, he is a Doctor of Lotto permutation and that�s it. His doctorate needn�t be from any recognized tertiary institution, recognized or not. The standards are not uniformed in the various fields of human endeavour. A medical doctor may find it absurd hearing someone with a PhD in geography bearing the title of Doctor. But that is the standard. It is a fact, as the Prof would agree with us, that the ability to deliver matters more than the mere wearing of titles all over the place. Presidential Spokesman Koku Anyidohu�s obscene attack on Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah�s PhD, which he described as cheap, refers. The young man thinks that the politician�s doctorate was offered by what for him is a cheap university elsewhere. Whether the doctorate was cheap or not, Dr. Spio-Garbrah is a man who can hold his own against the best anywhere. And indeed, that is what matters. The Prof�s worry about the mushrooming charlatans reminds us about Nigeria where the challenge is more pronounced than in Ghana. Over there, it has veered outside academia into the traditional realm, as evidenced from the many title holders in Iboland and other communities in Africa�s most populous country. The Prof has voiced out his genuine concern but regrettably, nothing and indeed nothing would come out of it as the Bishops and Doctors would continue to grow.