We need concerted efforts to rekindle our values - Lecturer

Dr Charles Wiafe-Akenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, has called for a concerted effort to revamp its social value systems for holistic and sustainable socio-economic development.

Nationalism, patriotism, honesty, respect, discipline, the sense of oneness and hard work among Ghanaians, he said, were fading out, therefore, citizens must work to restore these positive and utilitarian values.

The Senior Lecturer, who made the call in Accra at the ninth National Development forum on the topic: “Societal Values and National Development: Consolidating the Gains”, said a society developed on the back of a solid value system.

The forum was organised by the National Development Planning Commission in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and Ghana Eximbank.

He said Ghanaians were blessed to have evolved values, which enhanced political and socio-economic development in the past.

However, they had not been successful in maintaining and transforming them into their attitudes and habits to dominate the thoughts, discourse and actions to the desired threshold.

Dr Wiafe-Akenten explained that this lack of apparent coherent dominant values had been one of the banes of national development in recent times.

“As a society, we do not lack the knowledge, expertise and all that it takes to become a developed country, but the corresponding values seem to be lacking,” he said.

He said the disrespect for law and order, indiscipline on the roads, corruption and other social vices must be checked to ignite the old values of discipline and love for the country.

Madam Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson, National Commission for Civic Education, said Singapore had succeeded in the last 15 years because the people integrated its national core values of honesty, integrity and others into the drive for excellence in infrastructure, good policy and hard-working people.

It was imperative for Ghana to learn from the Singapore experience to consolidate the gains of societal values, she advised.

The Most Reverend Dr Aboagye Mensah, a former Presiding Bishop, Methodist Church of Ghana, speaking during a panel discussion on the topic, stated that values were requisite for every institution’s democratic processes, and the moral integrity of systems was critical for national development.

He said some pastors’ inability to speak the truth had undermined Christian values, adding that, such pastors should be given proper Biblical training before they would start a Church.

Professor Joseph Osafo, Head, Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, called for the strengthening of the laws and the rewarding of people who exhibited positive attitudes and behaviours.

He said if churches predominantly preached the message of good citizenship, integrity, and positive attitudes, because of the size of their congregations, they could influence national development.

Some of the participants urged the Government to prioritise Civic Education to inculcate civic responsibility in children in their formative years as well as workers in all institutions.

Others urged the Government to regulate the advertisement of alcoholic beverages, which had negative impact on children and scrutinise films to edit out images of nude persons before they were screened on national television.

They also advised parents to keenly spend time with their children to train them to be morally upright.