Use Scientists if you want to grow economy – Prof Allotey

World renowned Ghanaian Mathematician and Physicist Prof Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey has said Ghana’s economy could be given a shot in the arm by scientists if only the Government makes use of their expertise.

“We don’t use our scientists when it comes to the economy…they have analytical mind, but somehow we are not using them,” the internationally respected mathematical physicist who is known for the "Allotey Formalism", which arose from his work on soft X-ray spectroscopy bemoaned in an interview with Starr Fm's Osei Owusu Amankwaah.

The President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences said China, for instance, makes use of Scientists as advisors to officialdom, including the President and wondered why Governments in Ghana have sidelined scientists from economic policy formulation and implementation.

Scientists, Prof Allotey said, in fact drive the economies of most developed countries, adding that: “They know something which is possible and something which is not possible.”

The member of the International Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics (ICTP) Scientific Council since 1996 said China, India, Russia, America and Singapore have become so developed because they rely on the advice or scientists.

In his view, Ghana’s economy has not developed the way it should because Scientists have not been drafted into anything by the Government.