Africa’s missing link is human capital – Bishop Lartey

The Reverend Dr Seth Lartey, Presiding Bishop of Western-West Africa of the A.M.E Zion Church, has attributed the missing link in Africa’s development to lack of priority on human capital.

He said African governments place very little priority on the potential of the human personality, which explains why African leaders keep inviting foreigners to study the continent’s potentials to the detriment of their people.

Bishop Lartey, who was speaking to journalists on Monday ahead of the Church’s upcoming national conference in Cape Coast, from June 22 to June 26, said African leaders have done very little to maximise the potential of human capacity.

He said Africa needs to invest in quality human capital by resourcing its educational and other training institutions with excellent laboratories and libraries to train the requisite human resource to propel development.

“The church's role in harnessing the potential of human capital is pivotal. It is not surprising that, the A.M.E Zion Church is involved in social interventions like education through the establishment of schools to training the human resource.

Bishop Lartey said the continent needs people to turn things around, people who would think about human capacity building and change the notion that take Africa is a dark continent.

He said lack of human capacity building places Africa’s democracy under threat because the continent’s natural resources are not being developed to benefit the ordinary citizens.

“The return on the value of resources that comes to the continent as compared to what goes to the advance countries is nothing to write home about,” he noted.

On Ghana’s upcoming elections, Bishop Lartey urged Ghanaians to use peaceful and legal means to resolve electoral disputes.

He said although the continent does not have gun manufacturing industries, yet it is populated with guns manufactured from elsewhere, which are used in various conflicts.

“We need to seriously work for peaceful co-existence to brighten the continent’s growth agenda.”

Bishop Lartey said if Africa has to position itself for good development it would impact on the people, then the reckless manner that governments tend to abandon projects and programmes of predecessors would to stop.

“We need to follow what the Bible says; one person plants another waters and God gives the increase,” he added.

The Western-West African AME Zion church under Bishop Lartey comprises missions in Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia.

The Cape Coast conference would be a prelude to the election of an indigenous Bishop for the Western-West Africa slated for July 23 in North Carolina, US.

Three Ghanaians Rev Dr Hilliard Dela Dogbe, Rev Dr Richard Mawuli Gadzekpo and Rev Dr Felix Ofosu are contesting the indigenous Bishop position.

The election of an Indigenous Bishop is a historic event for the churches because it would be the first time a Presiding Bishop would reside and operate directly in the sub-region since 1875.