Ambassador Alan Kyerematen, Ghana’s envoy to the United States had said, it is upon all Ghanaians in leadership positions, political and otherwise to ensure that their leadership led to the socio-economic development of the country. That leadership, he explained, should transcend political affiliation and should rather be a crusade from which the presidency through district assemblies would be seen to be driving towards a definitive positive goal.
‘Talents should be used irrespective of politics. That is the only way to succeed, this should not be with people at home only but must be a global mobilization.’
Ambassador Kyerematen said this when he hosted members of the Ghana Studies Council, an association of Ghanaians, Europeans and American scholars whose research interests are on Ghana.
At the well-attended reception at the Chancery he asked them as scholars and intellectuals, without sometimes, partisan considerations, to provide strategic guidance to help solve some of the many problems afflicting the country.
Ambassador Kyerematen said after independence, Ghana should have done better than it is doing today compared to its same age country, South Korea. Ghana failed because of its leadership, which was not only political but also collective as well as the inability to mobilize capital for development, lack of human resource reorganization and utilization and Ghana as a backwater of technological development. These are the fundamentals upon which the problems are based.
He wondered aloud why Ghanaians excel in all parts of the world but still the country lacked skills in many fields and said ‘it is an indictment upon all of us.’
The Ambassador also thanked the GSC scholars who donated books to the Embassy Library, which was re-opened with their visit and urged other GSC members and the International Community who write on Ghana to donate reference books, which is meant to serve the intellectual needs of scholars and students doing research on Ghana as well as tourists. So far about 200 books on Ghana have been donated towards the Embassy library.
The new Library can be accessed from the Internet at www.ghanalibrary.org, which has a catalog of titles with author’s names and ISBN numbers.
Mr. T.A. Awuah, a Ghanaian artist also donated some of his art work for the decoration of the library and also entertained the group with Ghanaian high-life music of the 1960s.
The out-going President of GSC David Owusu Ansah, a Professor of African history at James Madison University thanked the Embassy for hosting them and said it was a historic visit for them. He also paid tribute to Raymond Silver and Jean Allman, the first and second presidents of the GSC.
The in-coming President Ray A. Kea, also a history Professor at the University of California-Riverside said the GSC would take the Ambassador’s challenge of strategic guidance and find ways of working with the Embassy on some of the issues.
Apart from the GSC members based in the United States who attended, there were some of their colleagues who joined them from Ghana and among them was, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana Prof. Akilakpa Sawyerr, Dr. Irene Odotei who until recently was the Acting Director of the Institute of African Studies at Legon and Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh, the substantive Director of the Institute of African Studies, Prof. Jophus Anamuah-Mensah of the University College of Education, Winneba and Dr. Amos Annyimadu also from Legon.
