Academy of Arts and Sciences to celebrate Founders Week

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is to mark its 53rd Founders Week celebration from Monday to Friday November 19-23rd at the British Council Hall in Accra.

The main theme for this year's weeklong celebration is: "Ghana's Urbanization Challenge". Sub-themes include "Demographic Dimensions and Spatial Issues"; Environmental, Sanitation, Health and Mobility" and "Governance and Security".

Professor K. K. Adarkwah, Fellow of the Academy and former Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), would deliver the 2012 Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures on day five under the theme: "The Changing Face of the Ghanaian Towns since Independence: From Nkrumah to Contemporary Times".

Prof Francis K. A. Allotey, President of GAAS, is expected to set the tone for the weeklong lectures with a Presidential Address on Monday on the topic: "Ghana's Urbanisation and Energy Nexus in the light of the United Nations Sustainable Energy by 2030," according to a GAAS press release to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

As part of the activities, five distinguished Ghanaian intellectuals would be inducted into the Fellowship of the Academy for their scholarly prowess in the sciences and the humanities.

They are, Prof Arthur Commey Sackeyfio, a scholar and academician in the discipline of Pharmacology and profession of pharmacy; Prof George Ofori, a construction economist and technologists; Prof Andrew Anthony Adjei, a Professor at the Pathology Department of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), College of Sciences, University of Ghana; Dr K. Adu, Consultant Nephrologist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the UGMS and Mr Justice S. A Brobbey, a Legal Luminary.

The Academy's Anniversary programme (renamed Founders Week Celebrations) was founded in 1959 on the initiative of Ghana's first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and aimed to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination of knowledge in all branches of the sciences and the humanities.

The last day is usually dedicated to what used to be called the Anniversary lecture, now renamed the "Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures" in memory of the founder, where topical issues of national discourse are delivered and deliberated on.

Prof Alexander Kwapong, former Chair of the Council of State, Emeritus Prof J. H. Kwabena Nketiah, Dr Letitia E. Obeng, Prof Akilagpa Sawyerr, FGA, Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa, FGA, His Excellency K.B. Asante and Mr Tony Oteng Gyasi, Past President of the Association of Ghana Industries have delivered lectures in the past.

GAAS has evolved over the years to become a major independent think tank that uses its platform to raise critical issues of contemporary relevance to all sectors of the Ghanaian life.

The Governor General, the Earl of Listowell, signed an incorporation, while Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the Great Hall of the University College of Ghana, formally inaugurated the Academy and became the first President and Dr Nkrumah its Chair in November 1959.

Membership is chosen on the basis of recommendations by a small working party. At the time it was established, the Academy was the first in Black Africa with membership of 20.

The Academy currently has a membership of 98 living Fellows.