Ghana toughened to succeed

Accra, Jan. 5, GNA - The political troubles, business and economic stagnation Ghana had endured for the past 50 years had toughened her to make better choices than the Asian Tigers in making life more meaningful for the citizens.

Mr John Baiden Jnr, a Business Executive, said in his contribution at the ongoing 58th New Year School at the University of Ghana, Legon. He extolled Ghana's endowment with natural resources and people with real values to bring economic and social progress and said Ghana had undergone all the trends that ensured the success of the Asian Tigers and now was the time to consolidate what existed and to fill in the missing bits to make Ghana's miracle to happen.

"It is a new dawn, a new age, a fresh page. We refuse to be haunted by ghosts forever. We have a gap to bridge and the chasm is not that wide", Mr Baiden said.

The week-long school, an extra mural programme, organised by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE), is attracting about participants from the Academia, Governance, Media, as well as Assembly Members and Members of Parliament.

This year, the School which is examining the success and challenges of the nation as it prepares to celebrate 50 years of independence, is on the theme: "Ghana at 50:Achievements, Challenges and the Future."

Mr Baiden's contribution to the sub-topic "Governance during the past five decades: views of the younger generation", pointed out that the missing link to being at par with the Asian Tigers was the inability of the State to empower the private sector for economic development. He said the Asian countries that had made it had common characteristics of export led growth and import substitution; creating of trade surplus and double digit growth.

Other features were undervalued currencies, high level of US and other Western bond holdings, high savings rate and high economic freedoms.

Mr Baiden, who is also Chief Executive of Margins Group, a firm in Accra, said the missing piece was then for the nation to take stock of its democratic practice and political stability, macro economic stability and ensure good credit rating.

It also had to take stock of its access to international finance; debt forgiveness; expand the stock market and expand infrastructure and come out with supportive Government legislation to help domestic production and export.

Mr Baiden said the younger generation needed a spirit of nationalism; unity; hope and a burning desire for meaning in their lives.

"There must be meaning to being Ghanaian. Positive meaning as a citizen, as a resident, as a corporate citizen", he said, adding, "there must be positive meaning to being Ghanaian otherwise we should forget about nation-building".

Ms Charlotte Kesson-Smith, a Legal Practitioner, said the Nation had made great strides in reducing the length of pre-university education under the Junior Secondary School system.

She, however, queried the content of the curriculum and methods of instructing young people, suggesting that children had to be taught skills.

Ms Kesson-Smith said education should aim at liberalising the mind and not to prepare pupils to pass exams, adding "rote learning makes the student incapable of per0forming effectively at the workplace.

She called for a reconsideration of the nation's present educational policies to ensure that products could sustain the national development goals and for the Nation to be able to compete with the rest of the world.

Mrs Elizabeth-Irene Baitie, Clinical Biochemist, whose contribution dwelt on the degradation of the environment, observed the increasing problem of waste disposal in Accra, an said it cost the Accra Metropolitan Authority 2.5 billion cedis a month to clean up the city, of which plastic constituted about 50 per cent of the waste.

She said the problem of the poor environmental management stemmed from inadequate enforcement of environmental regulations and lack of total commitment by all parties concerned to the vision of greener Ghana.

Mrs Baitie said Singapore's single-mindedness in pursuing the quest for a clean and organised country was a good example of total commitment.

Prof Kweku Osam, Dean of the Faculty of Arts chaired the symposium. The School continues.