Ghanaian Scientists and Engineers with flawed Ideas

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• MDT 9 years ago

  Indeed, our scientists and engineers are failed us big time. But we must also ask whether the Ghanaian populace believed in science?
  Do you believe that the solutions to our developmental challenges lies in the ATOM and not ...
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  Indeed, our scientists and engineers are failed us big time. But we must also ask whether the Ghanaian populace believed in science?
  Do you believe that the solutions to our developmental challenges lies in the ATOM and not any SPIRIT of any religion?
  Do you believe that THINKING is the KEY, and not PRAYER?
  
  Science works in a nation whose denizens are convinced of the of versatility of the knowledge of the ATOM underpinned on the truth that THINKING, not PRAYER is the key.

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• Kofi 9 years ago

  Kwaku Kuma, if you agree that Ghanaian scientists and engineers excel in "NASA and other reputable organisations across the globe" but not in Ghana then do you think the problem is with the scientists and engineers or with t ...
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  Kwaku Kuma, if you agree that Ghanaian scientists and engineers excel in "NASA and other reputable organisations across the globe" but not in Ghana then do you think the problem is with the scientists and engineers or with the country? Don't you think as a scientist yourself, the problem must be with the environment? With scientists/engineers like you, how do you expect the country to make progess?

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• Cross Breed 9 years ago

  Whether we believe thinking, prayer or atom, nobody has stopped the engineers or scientist from using their brains to accelerate the technological improvement of our country Ghana. Come on, stop looking for excuses to all our ...
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  Whether we believe thinking, prayer or atom, nobody has stopped the engineers or scientist from using their brains to accelerate the technological improvement of our country Ghana. Come on, stop looking for excuses to all our mistakes. 50 years down the drain and we think its is prayer stopping our scientist? Are there churches in US and Europe? Yes there are and in fact most of the big time inventors and scientist are very staunch Christians. They should come out and tell us how many things they developed that the politicians stopped them from making it good for Ghana. The lectures and workers of the universities always and always go on strike for their pay and allowances no matter the government in power but ask them if they have ever gone on strike because they are being prevented from improving the technological aspect of Ghana's development. They get all they want through their politically motivated strike actions but nobody requires from them some of these things the writer has made clear. Well, God is the Judge.

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• MDT 9 years ago

  What I meant is that even the people we are referring to as scientists/engineers in Ghana probably do not even believe in the tenets of science as in continuous experimentation with intermittent innovative additions where nee ...
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  What I meant is that even the people we are referring to as scientists/engineers in Ghana probably do not even believe in the tenets of science as in continuous experimentation with intermittent innovative additions where need in such experiments in order for them to yield the desired results. So we call them so bcos of academic qualifications, and not necessarily any practical as expected from people with that level proper science education.
  
  In other words, the person you calling scientist/engineer must be convinced that the solutions lies in the atom/matter in order to continue looking for it over there, else he gives up after few trials, which is uncharacteristic of true scientists.

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• nokware 9 years ago

  You are just wasting your time.Our engineers and scientists are all text-book scholars.Iam sure some of the engineers do not know what a spanner is.

  You are just wasting your time.Our engineers and scientists are all text-book scholars.Iam sure some of the engineers do not know what a spanner is.

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• BOY KOFI 9 years ago

  You need to find out how deeply convicted our Scientists and Engineers are in the first place.I was also having the same awkward idea until one day I met a Ghanaian lady who is a Scientist onboard a flight from Accra to Paris ...
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  You need to find out how deeply convicted our Scientists and Engineers are in the first place.I was also having the same awkward idea until one day I met a Ghanaian lady who is a Scientist onboard a flight from Accra to Paris.I was just sitting next to her.The lady was so quiet that I tried to come up with a conversation.I started with,"please madam,do you also leave in France?"No sir,I am on my way to India".Wow I said,what a long journey?Yes it is very long,I may travel another 10 hours more after transit in Paris,she said.Hmm fine,Madam you see,I have also been to India,long time ago when I was a seaman.She was very pleased to know that someone sitting right at her left side could tell her a little bit about India.Then came my curiosity,what are you going to do in India,Madam?Oh you see,I was invited to join Annual Conference for Scientists,she replied.
  I was very happy to hear that.Then I asked her to tell me if she is Scientist.She answered positively.Wow,a real Scientist or just on paper?Excuse me,Madam do we have real Scientists in Ghana today?Oh yes we do,she answered.She knew that I was not convinced though so she asked me to come to the ATOMIC at Kwabenya in Accra whenever I come back to Ghana and find out what Scientists are doing there.Then I said okay that will be fine.I said it seems to me that we have traditional science that could be developed.She asked me what kind of traditional science I was talking about.This is an opportunity for me to know if she is a real Scientist.I picked up a story told by an old watchman in Accra about Science and Technology.The old watchman gave me some knowledge and some technic for fabricating gun powder in the olden days.The lady was listening careful as I narrated the whole story from fermented urining deposit to plantain ashes and temperature.She said the oldman is right,urine and plantain contain powerful chemicals that could be used for explosives.Then she invited once more to come to ATOMIC where I will have the oppotunity to see Ghanaian Scientists doing research in Medicines and Biology.In short,I think we should rather encourage them and put them to task.Thank you.

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• Jah-Obia Science Knows 9 years ago

  The Greatest Equalizer, education. screwed-up priorities and dispensation vis-a-vis education/NDPC. Everybody wants to count the donza/money, but nobody wants to work.
  
  Do you remember this quote, "We need absorbable (Forge ...
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  The Greatest Equalizer, education. screwed-up priorities and dispensation vis-a-vis education/NDPC. Everybody wants to count the donza/money, but nobody wants to work.
  
  Do you remember this quote, "We need absorbable (Forget absorbent) and not avoidable graduates?) - Ayaricough and not Ayari-tractor renter.
  
  Kofi, three hundred and fifty technical-universities to teach the citizenry how to solve problems, and yet, no students to teach. Go figure.
  
  Some also say, " if education is the key; how come the bigger-heads are making it so hard?"

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• Cross Breed 9 years ago

  When will they tell us what they are doing and also what they need that they are not getting to be able to do what they want to do? Just having scientists is not enough.

  When will they tell us what they are doing and also what they need that they are not getting to be able to do what they want to do? Just having scientists is not enough.

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• BOY KOFI 9 years ago

  The lady Scientist I met told me that they doing lot of resarch in the area of Medicine and Biology at the ATOMIC.Thank you.

  The lady Scientist I met told me that they doing lot of resarch in the area of Medicine and Biology at the ATOMIC.Thank you.

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• Kwapps 9 years ago

  Government should make it compulsory for all Ghanaian scientists and engineers to go for a reorientation course under Apostle Kwadwo Sarfo. In China this man would be revered and a sizable amount of money thrown at him by the ...
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  Government should make it compulsory for all Ghanaian scientists and engineers to go for a reorientation course under Apostle Kwadwo Sarfo. In China this man would be revered and a sizable amount of money thrown at him by the central government but unlike Ghana, as in casting pearls before swine, we do not see his true worth, let alone celebrate him or his accomplishments! If only most of our scientists or engineers were like him or encouraged to be like him our pioneering ancestors would rest peacefully in their graves!

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• Grey 9 years ago

  Do you know NASAs budget?
  Do you know Apples budget?
  Do you know SamSungs budget?
  If our scientists had such resources they would also do something.

  Do you know NASAs budget?
  Do you know Apples budget?
  Do you know SamSungs budget?
  If our scientists had such resources they would also do something.

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• BOY KOFI 9 years ago

  The Scientist must first convince somebody with his project before funding except the govt,comany or institution puts forward a project that needs research and funding.We sometimes have collective research,group research and ...
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  The Scientist must first convince somebody with his project before funding except the govt,comany or institution puts forward a project that needs research and funding.We sometimes have collective research,group research and individual research.Thank you.

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• Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago

  It is good that in this article, you acnowledge that our scientists and engineers have so far not been productive.
  Bu does it make good economic sense to continue to throw money at science education when for over fifty years ...
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  It is good that in this article, you acnowledge that our scientists and engineers have so far not been productive.
  Bu does it make good economic sense to continue to throw money at science education when for over fifty years, we have seen no dividends in our investments? Where is the proof that the country will ever produce scientist with innovative minds when we have failed to do so for nearly six decades?
  In order for your article to make sense, you must dwell on the fundamental reasons why the scientists and engineers are useless, and stop blaming the politicians and so-called failed legal minds for making them uselesss.
  In my opinion, our scientists and engineers are shackled by religion and superstition and can therefore not be creative. If you are stuck in the belief that a power above is going to change everything, you will not make any effort to change anything. And if you believe that all wisdom and knowledge are capsuled in a book written thousands of years ago, your mindset will be that of people who lived thousands of years ago and believed that the world was flat, or that the sun could stop moving in the skies........

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• Kojo T 9 years ago

  Yes as innovation and development is the only solution, not shop keeping

  Yes as innovation and development is the only solution, not shop keeping

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• papyrito USA 9 years ago

  Indeed untill our polytechnics are seriously upgraded to produce good technical degrees we're ain't going anywhere, Secondly until a Ghanaian politicians are held accountable for their actions we're ain't going anywhere, our ...
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  Indeed untill our polytechnics are seriously upgraded to produce good technical degrees we're ain't going anywhere, Secondly until a Ghanaian politicians are held accountable for their actions we're ain't going anywhere, our politicians and anyone who broke the law should be shamed and jailed .

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• Kofi 9 years ago

  Some of you think science and engineering are like craft we were learning in primary school where at the end of the term you presented broom or basket for grades. No science and engineering cost money. The writer talked about ...
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  Some of you think science and engineering are like craft we were learning in primary school where at the end of the term you presented broom or basket for grades. No science and engineering cost money. The writer talked about NASA and other reputed organizations. Go find out out research funding. It got to a time scientists were moving even from the UK to the US because their studies could be more easily funded in the US. There are many Ghanaian scientists doing great work in Europe and America who are never coming back home because when they do, they will rot. Research in science is not making toy cars from raffia palm.

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• 4Ward Ever 9 years ago

  Political leadership and direction is everything. Do we have an enlightened and truly cultured leadership with the necessary vision to lead the Science & Technology revolution? Absolutely not! Do not blame our struggling sci ...
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  Political leadership and direction is everything. Do we have an enlightened and truly cultured leadership with the necessary vision to lead the Science & Technology revolution? Absolutely not! Do not blame our struggling scientists and engineers many of whom cannot, as you’ve indicated, find jobs in their field of training. It is not by choice that they work in banks. It’s survival in a country that creates only jobs for politicians and bureaucrats. The solution, however, lies right here at home in our past history. How did Nkrumah confront the great developmental challenges on assuming office? It will be worthwhile for the nation to revisit the Nkrumah methodology.
  
  Nkrumah was no scientist and engineer. His genius lay in finding talented personnel and empowering them with the resources and mandate to execute the required project. The founding of the University of Ghana Medical School can serve as a template for many other national endeavours in the country. When the US government because its Cold War politics and subversion of Nkrumah pulled out the Medical School project within a year of its start with the lame excuse of not being able to find lecturers, Nkrumah’s visionary prowess and man of action abilities went into overdrive! He recruited all the right people - overseas-trained Ghanaian doctors in lucrative practice abroad, plus the few Ghanaian doctors at home. The heroes of the time who came to the rescue of the motherland and the project were such names as Prof. A. A. Kwapong, Dr. C. O. Easmon and Dr. E. A. Badoe. As the website of the Medical School states:
  “In October 1964 a group of 41 students started the Preclinical Training, with a small group of Ghanaian doctors as their lecturers. The curriculum was mainly Gross Anatomy and Histology, taught by Mr. J. K. M. Quartey, and assisted by Dr. F. N. L. Engmann and a number of surgeons and pathologists as part time lecturers. From this modest beginning, other departments, namely physiology, started by Dr. H. H. Philips, and Biochemistry, started by Dr. B. Y. A. Andoh, were later added to constitute the Basic Sciences. Teaching started in paraclinical Departments in April, 1966 and in Clinical Departments in April, 1967. The first batch of students graduated in June 1969.
  
  
  
  Paraclinical Departments and Heads of Department consisted of the following:
  
  Department of Pharmacology headed by Prof. R. Lewis and assisted by Dr. J. Blukoo Allotey
  
  Department of Pathology headed by Prof. F. W. N. Laing
  
  Department of Microbiology, headed by Dr. S. N. Afoakwa
  
  Department of Surgery, headed by Prof. Charles Easmon
  
  Department of Medicine, Headed by Prof. S. R. A. Dodu
  
  Department of Paediatrics, headed by Dr. Yaw Asirifi
  
  Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, headed by Prof. K. K. Bentsi-Enchill
  
  Department of Community Health, headed by Dr. F. T. Sai
  
  Thus, the School started almost entirely with Ghanaians.”
  
  Nkrumah did not see refinement and culture as living in mansions built with stolen money and driving expensive luxury cars likewise while the majority of people lived in slums and eked out a miserable existence. Nkrumah would have rather wanted to train architects and planners who would renovate towns and cities, build modern and affordable housing for all. He would have wanted to train engineers who would build mass transit infrastructure and invent and build cars equal to, if not better than, the Mercedes-Benz and other brands and available for the local and African markets and within reach of the average consumer.
  
  We do not have to re-invent the wheel. With the right political leadership, genuine planning and appropriate technology transfer, we can utilize homegrown talent in science and technology, as Nkrumah did, whether founding the UGMS or KNUST or any of his development projects, to catch up to the 21st century!

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