Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Communications, Ing. Dr. Ken Ashigbey, is calling on various stakeholders in the economy to be more competitive to propel the needed growth in the country.
He explains that, despite the country’s abundance of economic resources, there is a lack of competitiveness that impedes the development of lucrative avenues.
In his keynote address at the 3rd Biennial Conference organized by the College of Basic and Applied Sciences as part of the 75th Anniversary of the University of Ghana, he attributed the shortfalls to the defects within the Ghanaian leadership system, affecting overall development. The conference was under the theme: “Leveraging Science and Technology for Development: The Role of Industry and Society.
“We can attest to the fact that as a country and as a continent weren’t not taking advantage of the various opportunities presented to us as a nation. We’re a rich country but we’re poor, because we’ve failed in leadership; in academia and industry”. He said.
Ing. Dr. Ken Ashigbey, also tasked educational institutions in Ghana to devise strategies in bridging industry, academia and society. He reveals that establishing such “tripodal agents” would go a long way in effecting developmental changes needed to be seen as a country.
“The time has come for concrete measures to be put together, to facilitate the effective collaboration not just between industry and academia but society as well, as done in other countries to push development and boundaries of innovation. Academia should be more market oriented, and industry should stop playing the waiting game and focusing on current challenges. Government, civil society organizations must also play a role in effective this target.”
He further advised Ghanaian leaders to liaise with other African countries in finding market-oriented solutions to boost the economy.
“If we don’t work together to solve our problems, no one would. As African countries we really need to collaborate and find solutions that we can sell back to the market”
Story By: Adwubi Wiafe Akenteng| univers.ug.edu.gh
