The Crisis of Educated Africans

Africa has plenty scholars, yet where are their solutions to our problems? Photo: a graduation ceremony at Nairobi, Kenya

By Honourable Saka
Our beloved continent, is currently dominated by a generation of noise makers: a people who can talk almost all the time, but don’t act. It is very annoying to hear some “experts” giving speeches over the radio, while reserving the real action.Africa has many scholars with PhDs and Master’s degrees in agricultural science, yet many of them will never set foot on the farm. Many of our scientists are probably very good at teaching, but never good at inventions and innovations.

I have always wondered where our mechanical engineers have been hiding, as we continue to import motorbikes and even bicycles. The taxpayer is often told: “Plans are far-advanced for the implementation of this project”, the other project is “in the pipeline,” the implementation phase comes “in 4 years,” and so on.

Our scientific researchers, religious leaders, acade­micians, scholars and politicians can perfectly demon­strate exactly what ought to be done in any given cir­cumstance, yet once in power, such ideas always remain either on paper or at best be held “in the pipeline.”
 

Instead of taking action and making things happen in a swift and decisive manner for the benefit of our people, it is rather very sad that even those tasked with such responsibilities are good at making speeches, while pushing the actual action onto the future genera­tions.
 

So far, it appears a few of those in the built environ­ment are physically making impact, while the majority of the other professions especially those in the manu­facturing fields remain to be seen. The media, which ought to bring such topics for discussion, has always been focusing on politicians and their frustrations while ignoring the lack of action.

Years back, there were only a few “scholars” in Africa. At that time, the majority of the people had not received “formal education” as we often call it. Many had neither been to engineering schools, polytechnics nor the university. There were only a few tens of people who had the benefit of receiving “formal education”.

In spite of this, Africans were producing soap, shoes, body cream, different kinds of cooking oil and their very effective and powerful local African medicines. They cured almost every major disease by relying on their local medication and eating organic food, which was very rich in vitamins and nutrients.

As a result, many of them lived long, averagely beyond the age of 90 years. It was common to see many of our parents living beyond the age of 120 years with good eyesight. Most importantly, many of our grandparents never wore glasses.
 

Ironically, today we call ourselves “intellectu­als”. We live in “hygienic environments,” eat “balanced diet” and use “modern medication”. Yet, many of us are dying below the age of 40 years! Today, millions of chil­dren at age 10 are wearing glasses! As if that is not enough, several hundreds of incurable diseases are cur­rently threatening our very survival.

How many of our forefathers died of malaria? How many of our grandmothers were infertile? In fact, there are many reproductive health-related diseases in modern Africa than there were in the pre-colonial era despite the so-called advancement in medical research.
 

Isn’t it time we took a critical look at the quality of our food today? But of course, many will consider this to be some “conspiracy theory”. After all, once you success­fully discredit legitimate concerns such as the above, it becomes easy to ignore the need to take action.

Even though Africa boasts of millions of scholars and other professionals, one wonders the whereabouts of these experts as almost everything we use in Africa is imported from elsewhere, despite having all the raw materials here at home.

Forty years ago, Africa was importing a sizeable amount of matches, sugar, cooking oil, roofing sheets, steel, cars, bicycles, shoes, wristwatches, typewriters and others. Africa did not have the expertise to mass-produce some of these items. Unfortu­nately, after 40 years, nothing has changed despite the fact that mother Africa has millions of intellectuals who currently hold the relevant qualifications.

After many years of importing mobile phones, com­puters, electric generators, sound systems, radio and television sets, fluorescent lamps, electric cables and many other electronic gadgets, there is no indication that this trend will change any time soon, though there are millions of African experts who have studied the production of these things.

Elsewhere in the Middle East and Asia, ordinary stu­dents are sending satellites into space. University researchers are actively engaging with their students in the production of mobile phones, digital tablets, com­puters and cars.
 

Their physical results can be seen everywhere. Unfortunately in Africa, our studies are charac­terised by reading theories, looking at diagrams and observing images with little or no practical demonstra­tions. The educational system, instead of teaching our people “how to think” and solve problems, is teaching young ones “what to think”.

Today, one can write over a thousand pages of research, yet this research may not have a single practi­cal input. One can perfectly describe how to move a car,  but it takes continuous practice to be able to practically drive the car. Is it a wonder that many of our mechani­cal engineers therefore cannot even fix a car?

Our universities are overpopulated with politi­cal and social science courses. The technical schools and polytechnics are still reserved for students with poor academic backgrounds. Many of our electrical engineers, mechanics and technicians out there did not learn their profession from schools. Many of them were school drop-outs who learnt their profession as a “trade” and by the “road-side technicians”. When the scholar’s car suffers a mechanical breakdown, the individual will rather look for a road-side mechanic to fix the problem.

Many of these local technicians do not have any academic qualifications at all, yet they’re better at solving real-life problems than many of our so-called professionals who have acquired a number of degrees. Isn’t this a shame?

Our tertiary institutions are increasingly producing intellec­tuals who talk too much, but lack the skills to personally contribute to problem-solving. Many of our intellectu­als only make noise, but push their real responsibilities to the man on the street.

Such acts of negligence must stop if Africa is determined to make any progress. African intellectuals must live up to their responsibili­ties. They must be part of the solution to our many challenges. It is time to be proactive.

Real leadership is demonstrated, not lectured. We’re tired of talks, seminars and workshops, which have become the hallmark of our current batch of intellectuals who ought to bear the responsibility of taking the action. As long as our intellectuals continue to look up to the layman to take up their responsibilities, Africa will never make any meaningful progress.

Our destinies must be in our own hands. Long live the African intellectual! Long live Mama Africa!

Honourable Saka

The writer is a Ghana-based political analyst on African affairs and a social commentator on Africa. He is the founder of the Project Pan-Africa (www.projectpanafrica.org), an organization established with the sole purpose to help liberate the minds of the African people from colonial bondage. He can be reached on Email: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk

APOSTLE KWADWO SAFO'S INVENTIONS - Is it a technological vision for Ghana or an endless annual circus?

By: AKWASI OSSEI NKRUMAH

After independence, Ghana under Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah launched a radical drive to industrialise our young nation. This manifested the first leader'sunderstanding of the importance of technology-driven industrialisation to a nation's quest to actualise and consolidate the gains of self-government. It is not the authors intention to list the several of such attempts since this piece is not meant to serve any political goal; rather it is purposed to ginger serious discussions on the works of Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo and other inventors vis-à-vis Ghana's technological advancement.

It is sad to note that Ghana, in this age of technology remains a net consumer of technology. In this situation, it is highly improbable that our national budget can record a surplus; since the value of our primary goods export cannot compare to the highly expensive yet necessary technological imports such as automobiles, electronics etc. We export our raw produce for extremely low values; and are always happy to hear that cocoa exports have improved whilst our balance of trade remains a huge deficit. The first post-independence government of Dr. Nkrumah aside, Ghana has not had any planof using technology to drive our economy (I stand to be corrected) government ingovernment out. India, after independence in 1947 adopted a national vision to use science and technology as the fulcrum of their national development plan; and today India is not only a net exporter of technology but also a nuclear power. In the half century since independence, India and its people have been committed to the task of promoting the spread of science and have recognized the key role of technology as one of the most important elements of national development (credit:

Science and Technology Policy of India, 2001

Ghana as a nation with over 50years self-rule cannot afford to sync so easily with the present status quo. The world is moving fast thanks to technology and it does not augur well for any country that is left behind.

In an introduction to its science and technology policy India’s Minister of State for Science and Technology & Earth Sciences, Hon. Shri Kapil Sibal, had this to say; hear him:

“Since independence, the government of India has been strongly aware of both needs – the need to build up a powerful science base, and the need to ensure that science is not restricted to the university laboratories.

Under a succession of enlightened leaders, Indian governments have long recognised the need for any country that aspires to call itself a modern nation to invest heavily in science and technology"

(My Emphasis).

"The fruits of this foresight are now widely visible. Thanks largely to the government'sdetermination that the country should build a strong independent base in science and technology, India has been able to build up a capacity in a wide range of areas of modern technology, from software engineering to health biotechnology.

 And this has placed it in a strong position to engage in the global knowledge economy, rather than remaining on the margins"

The above long quote encapsulates what I think should be the thrust of our nationaldevelopment efforts. I do not see Ghana, presently, being in a strong position to engage in the global knowledge economy and I wonder whether we are anywhere near the margins. Ghana is simply not in the picture.

Indigenous inventors – a frustrated pack 

Like the voice of one that cry in the wilderness ……. . Ghanaian inventors have been begging us as a nation-state to listen to their lonely shrill cries and we have always treated them with derision or, directed to them, the attention a kid gets when she makes a craft; nothing serious just an intelligent and precocious kid. That Onua Amoah was frustrated for lack of serious attention for his biogas project is not privileged information. He was born into his own at atime his own was not ready for him, may his soul rest in perfect peace.

Barima be ye bi (a man can only try his best). 

The late Onua Amoah was not alone in his predicament; there are several others among them Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo, in my view the most notable of them mainly because of the extent to which he has gone to publicise his inventions (I use inventions in defiance of a certain notion making the rounds that they are not such). Apostle Safo has been very bold, about his claim to these inventions we see on TV every weekend, and has taken for example thevehicles to the Vehicle Examination and Driver Licensing Department (VELD) to beexamined. I do not know what happened afterwards, but I have personally seen this vehicle in question, the Kantanka 4x4, moving swiftly on one of our nation’s highways. Americans say

if it moves like duck, stands like a duck, feeds like a duck ……then it is a duck.

The Kantanka 4x4 runs as swift as any other four-wheel-drive; indeed it looks like most four-wheel-drives and looks equally as strong or even more rugged. So what is it? It is a four-wheel-drive rugged vehicle made in Ghana, of course. And how have we received it? Fit for a circus-like display in annual technology fairs, and on television displays where dignitaries and non-dignitaries alike, go to express their amazement and applaud the great Apostle for his vision and that’s it. Whilst we continue to finance the economy of other countries with hard currency, through importation of vehicles needed to run the affairs of state, totally oblivious, of a clear plan and strategy to wean us of such needless dependence on other countries.

Car – making in Ghana a reality

Bob Marley once sung “

…in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.

There is an abundance of evidence available in Ghana today, that car – making here in this country is no more a dream but a reality. Henry Ford was right when he said,

“whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you are right”

Listen to Walt Disney

“all our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them”.

Yes. A Ghanaian has demonstrated the ability to manufacture cars right here in Ghana. This should be more than good news for any serious nation bent on using technology to advance its development. Have we the courage as a nation to take charge of this reality and develop it as a vital resource for our technological advancement? Enough of the circus-like displays; it is about time for serious action. I am talking about state intervention. In a few words I will describe how the state should intervene.

The role of the state

The state should set up a body of experts to critically examine the vehicles manufactured by Apostle Safo. The purpose of these experts’ work, would be to calibrate the vehicle and itscomponents, to see, whether they conform to acceptable standards. When this is done, shortfalls that would be identified would then be made known to the manufacturer to work on them, till the vehicles meet every acceptable standard. When this stage is completed, we will have a vehicle that is durable and reliable. The next stage would be to form a business development team, together with themanufacturer, to assess the requirements in terms of capital, technical improvements, human resource, materials and raw materials supply with the sole aim of putting up a manufacturing plant. Any shortfall of capital required must be supplied by the state as equity in the business. Say we start with a plant capacity of 50 cars a month. Government would have no reason procuring cars from outside, once we have perfected our own car manufacturing ability and would be producing cars. The government of Ghana would then be the key consumer of cars churned out of the established plant; four-wheel drives for MMDAs, DMHIS, police patrol and the military; buses for workplaces and schools. We stand to gain a whole lot from ensuring the sustenance of this dream-become-a-reality. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a footstep. John C. Maxwell has said  “You are only an attitude away from success”.

It is said,

a pessimist is a person who, regardless of the present, is disappointed in the future

As Ghanaians we need not be in this category of Homo sapiens.

 Let these words of Dale Carnegie shine the light of optimism in our hearts – 

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way

.

Allow me to paraphrase Karl Marx’s conclusion in the

Communist Manifesto,

We have our chains (of underdeveloped status) to loose and the whole world (and its knowledge economy) to gain.

 God bless our nation Ghana.

NOTES:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25949129/Apostle-Kwadwo-Safo-s-Inventions

By: AKWASI OSSEI NKRUMAH

This was just me thinking aloud on a matter I felt very attached. This article was sent to the Daily Graphic newspaper in Ghana on 09/07/2008 but was never published. Someone in there felt it was not worthy to be published. What is your own assessment? Please help let us together put pressure on the government of Ghana to support Apostle Safo Katanka, and African governments in general to support the initiatives of Africans.