By Bernice Bessey.
The former president of the Ghana Institute of Engineers (GIE), Dr. Kwame Boakye, says the country can attain its development aspirations only when it embraces Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation (STEI).
Even though, he said, the country can boast of many ‘wonderful’ policy initiatives and programmes, he maintained that without a systematic effort to harness opportunities available in STEI, the nation would continue to be stagnant in development, and would go nowhere.
He said: “We have become a begging nation…addicted to donations. We are unable to execute without the so-called development partners, and that is a politically correct way of depriving our dependency.
“We can’t implement our national budget without their contribution. We can’t run our institution by ourselves without their help.
“Even elections, which is the core of exercising our franchise, must be partially funded by these partners. This should be a big concern to us.”
Dr. Kwame Boakye made the observation at the 11th Graduation of the Accra Institute of Technology (AIT), and argued that the country’s reluctant approach towards STEI makes him doubt Ghana’s ability to elevate its people from poverty, disease and environmental degradation.
To him, STEI has become the main force driving the Asian Tigers to compete with global economies like the United States, and “it is sad that Ghana and its sister African nations have not fared so well. As a result of this, they keep depending on their so-called development partners, leaving behind the very things they can adopt to improve the lives of the people.”
He reminded the state handlers that national development is about improving the basic lives of the citizens, by providing them with opportunities that would lead them to meet their daily necessities, such as food, shelter, education and healthcare.
“No matter the virtues of our development, STEI is the key driver of development, because it underpins the socio-economic advancement and improvement in the health system, education and infrastructure,” he opined.
In order to achieve sustainable development for the country, the former GIE president urged all engineers to come together as a group, to draw a roadmap that would develop the country, explaining that Ghana’s problem is an engineering problem.
In the light of this, he said: “The sustainable way of eliminating many of these diseases in Ghana is not through the provision of medicine, but rather through engineering.”
Professor Clement K. Dzidonu, President of AIT, in his address, appealed to the government to expand the tertiary education budget to cover private institutions too.
He defended that the private institutions are helping the country to build upon its human capital and expertise, in order to fuel the development and transformation of the economy.
To ensure equity, therefore, Professor Dzidonu said the government should strategically invest in both the public and private higher education system to generate the requisite and critical skills needed for rapid economic development.
“There is no doubt that a well-resourced higher education system by the government, as part of an expanded-mandate for higher education, can play and serve an effective instrument for driving and accelerating Ghana’s economic and social development.
“In an age, where global competitiveness of a nation depends very much on its ability and capacity to develop and deploy a highly skilled knowledge workforce, innovation systems and technologies are needed to drive its economy,” he stressed.
The 11th Graduation ceremony witnessed five persons graduating with Doctor of Philosophy (PhDs), another five as PhD candidates, and two others graduating with Masters Computer Science (MSc), Engineering.
Also, 153 graduands from their main campus were awarded various degrees in Accounting, Business Administration, Computer Science, Education Administration, Hospitality, Information Technology, Network Computing and Multimedia Communication.
Among the figure, 26 obtained First Class Honours, 40, Second Class, Upper Division and 87 Second and Lower division.
Another 61 graduands from the open university, Malaysia, were also honoured with Bachelor degrees.
By Bernice Bessey. The former president of the Ghana Institute of Engineers (GIE), Dr. Kwame Boakye, says the country can attain its development aspirations only when it embraces Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation (STEI). Even though, he said, the country can boast of many ‘wonderful’ policy initiatives and programmes, he maintained that without a […] Read Full Story
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