African countries urged to embark on manufacturing

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), Professor Ernest Aryeetey has advocated for massive investment in the manufacturing industries in Africa as a tool to boost Africa’s economy and create more jobs to reduce unemployment.

He said an African country that does not create jobs will always depend on other countries who will in turn impose their policies on them.

Delivering a speech at the 7th Archbishop LeMaire Memorial Lectures on the theme “The Changing State in Africa and Christian Leadership” at the Christ Church Anglican Cathedral in Cape Coast, Prof. Aryeetey called on African leaders to be equally concerned about education, as creating jobs without qualified persons to be employed amounted to no work done.

The lecture, organized by the St Nicholas Anglican Seminary every October was instituted in 2007 in memory of the late Archbishop Ishmael Samuel Mills LeMaire, the first Ghanaian Anglican Diocesan Bishop of Accra for his immense contribution to mission and ministry of the Anglican Church, particularly his initiative that led to the establishment of the Seminary.

The lectures brought together the Clergy, members of the Anglican Church, some members of the LeMaire family, including lecturers, seminarians and a cross section of the public. Prof. Aryeetey bemoaned the lack of transparency in leadership in the secular state, especially when majority of the people claimed to be religious.

He therefore advocated for laws that required transparency, saying “if there are laws in a country that require transparency, there will be less corruption and things will change.” On the issue of whether the church should pay taxes to the state or otherwise, the Professor said the church as a body was not required to pay tax because it was not considered a business entity, but rather individual members who worked were required to pay taxes.

He charged Christian leaders to be service-minded, and added that they should not be self-serving but rather embrace feedback in order to be effective. The Professor set the record straight on the recent media reportage that suggested that UG had rejected qualified applicants, explaining that it was not a deliberate attempt but that the action was due to the competitive nature of this year’s selection process.

He gave an instance where a qualified applicant had to be denied admission because others had better grades and called on students to work hard to obtain the very best of grades in order to gain admission into any tertiary institution of their choice.

The Lord Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Coast, The Right Reverend Daniel Sylvanus Adotei Allotey said Ghana as a country was going through difficulties because the citizens were demanding more but were unwilling to sacrifice and invest in human resource.

He therefore called on the citizenry to do their best in their chosen fields to help make Ghana a better place to live and entreated Christian leaders to be constantly reminded of their role in society.

Prof. Yaw Afari Ankomah, Director of the Institute of Economic Planning and Administration (I.E.P.A) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) who chaired the function, said leadership was necessary to guide actions in society and urged both Christian and secular leaders to lead exemplary lives to influence people to achieve the best.

He reminded Christian leaders of their role in developing society and urged them to work assiduously, saying that the church will equally be affected should the nation go through turbulent times. A minute’s silence was observed in memory of the late Archbishop LeMaire and prayers said for his family.