The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged the World Bank to continue to collaborate with developing countries in the implementation of pragmatic policies to help accelerate economic growth.
According to him, the World Bank (WB) was established, among other things, to ensure the infrastructural and total development of developing countries in particular, stressing the need for the WB to always adhere to the principles for which it was set up.
The Asantehene, who is currently in the United States (US) to attend several important programmes, including an upcoming United Nations forum, visited the World Bank headquarters in Washington to interact with the leaders there.
He pointed out that poverty, diseases and ignorance could be eradicated with the continuous intervention of the World Bank.
“The World Bank was established for infrastructural development of developing countries so they have responsibility to design programmes that will be best suited for the development of the world, thereby making the world peaceful in relation to development,” the Asantehene stated.
He tasked workers of the World Bank to carry out their duties in line with the mandate of the World Bank.
Human Resource Development
The Asantehene also underscored that human resource development is the key to the proper transformation of every country and entreated world leaders to ensure that their people are well-educated in order to ensure they become useful to the world.
Otumfuo, who is the Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), said the KNUST has been playing vital roles over the years to help ensure that students from Ghana and other countries are properly trained.
Science Education
He also called for the need for science and mathematics education to be given serious attention, indicating that those two subjects are key to the future transformation.
Culture and Tradition
The Asantehene revealed that he would lead the Ashanti Kingdom to respond to the necessary adjustments in culture and traditions in order to meet the expectations of present demands, saying, “Culture is not static, it is dynamic. So as time moves, you cannot stick to the old style of culture, especially when it is link with education. As we move on, we look at various ways of developing our culture and better ways to improve the lives of our people.”
He added, “We need to look for various ways of adapting to modern needs of society, using education. We cannot live like what we did in the past. We should look for modern ways to transform mankind.”
The Asantehene is also expected to deliver an address on September 13, 2019 at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly about how he has been able to combine culture and modernity to transform Asanteman and Ghana during the last two decades.
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