You could not have missed it on GTV. That documentary on India was an eye-opener. Not all my knowledge of India as one of the world’s fastest growing economies had prepared me for the shock that rolled before me on the screen.
I saw this other GTV documentary on Japan. A few years after their national disaster in which a tsunami practically flattened the country, Japan is building houses whose basements are designed to shield citizens from the effects of future devastations. Have these advancements been possible because citizens of the two countries are lighter skinned – what we call “white men”? No. That would be an insult to God! The distinguishing factor is the level of their governments’ engagement with the scientific and research community.
This article is the second part of that which was published in the Daily Graphic a few weeks ago under the heading, ‘Scientists in business’, and I have a request to the President of the Republic of Ghana, Mr John Dramani Mahama.
I dare him to pay a visit to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) headquarters. If he emerges from the visit without a tear in his eye, I would suspect that he may have lost the use of his tear glands, like Nelson Mandela, whose tear ducts were damaged by years of being forced to smash limestone rocks in the quarry on Robben Island.
Our President may not be shocked, but he will definitely be saddened to tears by what he will see and hear there. It is the story of how a nation is wasting away because science and technology is not a priority to its governments.
<<Print>>