Need for new education system

Centre spread, May 26, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE President of Mission Africa Incorporated, Reverend Dr Kodjoe Sumney, has called for a shift from the colonial educational system in African countries to a new system that will provide the youth with skills and knowledge for inventions.
He noted that the present system, whereby African countries had become consumers of all manner of goods, including second-hand items, from other continents, was a blot on the image of the continent.
Speaking at the Seventh African Union (AU) Day National Prayer Conference held at the forecourt of Parliament House yesterday, Rev Dr Sumney said there was the need for an educational system that would equip the youth with skills to create employment, in place of the one that trained students only to come out to seek for jobs.
Hundreds of people from all parts of the country attended the prayer conference, which was held on the theme, “Anointing for innovation, scientific invention and job creation for African youth”.
It was organised by Mission Africa Incorporated, a non-profit organisation, in conjunction with Parliament and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, to mark the AU Day.
Students from second-cycle and tertiary institutions, parliamentarians and members of the Christian community attended the prayer conference.
Rev Dr Sumney said the time had come for Africa to take its destiny into its own hands and venture into the technological world to invent and produce items that could compete with those that were being produced outside the continent.
He said it was only that which would ensure the economic liberation of Africa.
He stated that our forebears did well to win political independence for the continent, adding, however, that political freedom was not enough if it was not accompanied by economic independence.
“Africa now has no choice but to move to another level of its development. We cannot wait, since doing so will spell the doom of the continent,” he said.
Rev Dr Sumney said it was unfortunate that Africa was still in the doldrums and attributed the situation to complacency, explaining that instead of seeking economic independence, African countries thought that achieving political independence was enough.
He called for the intensification of intra-African trade and the consumption of goods produced on the continent in order to generate employment for the teeming youth.
For his part, an international evangelist, Dr Lawrence Tetteh, called on Ghanaians to put a stop to the politicisation of all issues, since “Ghana is not for only the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)”.
“Ghana is about unity. Let us unite and push forward the country’s development agenda in order to be the torchbearer of Africa,” he said.
He called on the media to be responsible in their reportage, since any infraction on their part could erode the few gains the country had made so far.
The Majority Chief Whip, Mr Gershon Gbediame, on behalf of the Speaker, Mrs Joyce Bamford-Addo, said besides making laws, Parliament would continue to collaborate with religious bodies to pray to seek God’s intervention in the country’s development.
Present at the function was the Tema Mantse, Nii Adjei Okraku I.