Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE aspiration of Ghana becoming a first-class country in the next 50 years requires a radical paradigm shift in governance, policies, attitude and every other aspect of the nation’s life, speakers at a symposium in Accra have noted.
According to the speakers — Mr Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, Mr Yonny Kulendi, Dr Nana Akua Anyidoho and Ms Nancy Myles — Ghana had the potential to join the comity of developed countries in the next 50 years, but cautioned that that dream would be elusive if Ghanaians continued to do “business as usual”.
They made the point on Thursday when they delivered the 13th in the series of Golden Jubilee Lectures organised by the Ghana@50 Secretariat as part of activities to commemorate Ghana’s Golden Jubilee.
The event drew the curtain on a 46-week intellectual discourses, which began on January 25, 2007, to celebrate the achievements of the nation over the past 50 years and to recommend the path of economic progress and development to chart in the next 50 years.
Among the distinguished personalities who delivered the lecture series were the immediate past Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan; the renowned African historian, Professor Ali Mazrui; the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr J. H. Mensah; a renowned Ghanaian diplomat, Mr K. B. Asante; a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, and Professor Kofi Kumado of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana.
Last Thursday’s event was a departure from the previous lectures, at least in two respects. First, it took the form of a symposium and second, the platform was shared by four young persons aged between 24 and 40 who represented the future.
The previous lectures featured one speaker at a time and were mostly delivered by the aged, who to a large extent, represented Ghana’s past.
Speaking on the broad theme, “Ghana, the next 50 years: Our hopes, our vision, our aspirations”, the speakers at the symposium exhibited great intelligence, eloquence and vision in their delivery, giving the audience a sense of satisfaction that there is hope for the future.
“I can now depart in peace because the youth have shown that they are ready to take over the mantle,” Mr Kwame Pianim, the chairman for the occasion, could not hide his pleasure at the delivery by the four young persons.
When he took his turn at the podium, Mr Dei-Tumi inspired confidence in the audience with his characteristic powerful and motivational speech as he outlined the possibility of Ghana becoming a developed country by 2050.
“If we must become not just a middle-income economy but a first-class nation, then we must begin to think ‘Ghana first’ and sign up to the ‘Ghanaian dream’ of national unity, peace and economic progress,” he remarked.
Mr Dei-Tumi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Future Leaders Group, said in order to achieve national unity, peace and sustainable economic growth to propel the nation into a first-class country, there was the need to start thinking seriously about growing transformational leaders in the country.
“The next 50 years will require a new way of thinking about all the issues involving national development and politics on the part of all, but most importantly, on the part of leaders,” he pointed out.
Mr Yonny Kulendi, the Managing Practitioner of Kulendi @ Law, an Accra legal firm, spelt out a number of charges that the nation ought to keep in order to realise the dream of becoming a developed country by 2050.
The charges included the need for every Ghanaian to develop their talents and potential to the ultimate for the development of the country; the need for all to build for their family a home free from gender, ethnic and racial prejudice, discrimination and bigotry; the need for all to remember the central theme of Ghana’s National Anthem and keep it holy; and the need to eschew indiscipline in every fabric of society, which had been the bane of the country’s development.
Mr Kulendi, who is a 2007 Fellow of Africa Leadership Initiative (West Africa), said to be able to combat indiscipline as the nation entered a new dawn, it was imperative to have leadership by example at the highest level, political will to combat corruption at all levels, commitment to the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, and commitment to human rights, among other conditions.
“Ghanaians are at the crossroads of a momentous history; we are at that critical juncture in the life of our beloved nation when the past pleads for forgiveness from the present, when the present embraces the future with hope and optimism, and when the future beams with confidence and pride because we have come of age,” he said.
At the turn of Dr Nana Akua Anyidoho, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, she said “we cannot grasp the potential of the next 50 years unless we get the basics right today”.
“A healthy dose of national self-confidence should translate into greater self-reliance; as individuals and communities, we will not need to constantly ‘appeal to the government to come to our aid’, and as a nation, we will not continue to hold out a begging bowl to our development partners,” the Spencer Foundation and Gwendolyn Carter Fellowship Awards winner said.
The youngest of the four speakers, Ms Nancy Myles, a First Class Philosophy degree holder and now an MPhil student at the University of Ghana, expressed the hope that by 2057, ethnic consciousness would dissolve and a higher level of national identity would emerge.
She further expressed the optimism that in the next 50 years, the status of women would improve such that they would not be oppressed and suppressed; subjected to ordeals like widowhood rites, female genital mutilation and trokosi system; considered as intellectually inferior to men; and not be relegated to the kitchen.
The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), who was the guest of honour, said the attainment of the dreams of the nation required drastic measures away from the “business as usual” approach of doing things.
“Some people have planned our generation for us. We must also plan for the next generation. But what do we have to offer?” He wondered.
The Co-ordinator of the Golden Jubilee Lectures, Prof. Kwame Gyekye, thanked all the speakers, chairmen, guests of honour, sponsors and all those who contributed in diverse ways to the successful organisation of the lectures.
He extended an invitation to all Ghanaians to the next lecture series in January 2057 when Ghana celebrates her Centennial anniversary, an invitation that drew laughter from the audience.
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