Accra hosts Ghana’s Biggest Educational Event

The Students and Young Professionals African Liberty Academy (SYPALA 2009) came off a fortnight ago, bringing together 50 participants and several professionals from West Africa to learn of the travails and successes of great Africans.

The week long programme was put together by IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, and www.AfricanLiberty.org. Panellists were drawn from various fields of human endeavour including business, politics, academia, media and ICT. They included retired army generals, past Ministers of State, Dr. Paa Kwasi Nduom of the CPP, Herman Chinery Hesse of SOFT tribe, Prof. Ato Quayson, Director of Diasporan and Trans-National Centre at the University of Toronto, Canada, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, immediate past CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, David Ofosu-Dorte, Managing Partner of one of Ghana's five leading law firms, Edwin Baffour, Corporate Affairs Director of Guinness Ghana Brewery, Estelle Akofio Sowah, Google Ghana, Judith Aidoo, one time advisor to President Clinton and Ms Joyce Arye, CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Kweku Sakyi-Addo, host of the Kwaku One-on-One show on TV3, Kwesi Pratt, a consummate socialist, Paul Adom Otchere, of Metro TV, Eric Don Arthur of TV3 and Dr. Patrick Awuah, President of Ashesi University who opened the program with a deeply thought provoking welcome address to the SYPALA 2009 participants.

According to IMANI, the answer to the advancement of freedom and the creative application of knowledge on society to solve problems “lies in bright, curious talented students who are interested in the potential of freedom…”

The Executive Director of IMANI Franklin Cudjoe, told participants in his opening address that “we provide opportunities such as this seminar for intellectually curious young people to explore the ideas of human freedom and their application to today's problems. We are focused on these seminar series because we are convinced that ideas have consequences.”

He further assured participants that the seminar faculty was not to twist their arm to adopt a particular perspective. “They have knowledge to share, and questions to explore with you. You will find that this intellectual perspective has many strands- sometimes multiple route to similar answers, sometimes divergent answers to the challenge at hand, so wherever you are coming from, there should be much here – and beyond – that challenges you to think about things differently and to try new ideas. How much you take from this experience is up to you, but we hope the seminar is either a beginning or a renewal…”

Indeed, almost all the speakers encouraged participants that they had the greatest opportunity in today's globalised world to change their destinies and that of the African continent for the better.

Gabby Otchere-Darko, Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, and former Managing Editor of the Statesman, usually credited as being the oldest newspaper in Ghana, developed the theme of government duty further, narrowing the focus to Rule of Law and Civil Liberties.

Gabby made an interesting point that nearly all the purposive social actions of the Hitlers, Abachas, and Stalins, of yesteryear, were perfectly legal according to the constitutions that they bulldozed through. In that sense “The Rule by Law” does not necessarily coincide with the “Rule of Law”. To properly identify the key features of the rule of law, we must necessarily view it against a backdrop of a kind of constitutionalism which assumes certain basic rights to be unquestionable and unalterable by any sovereignty beyond the law itself.

Franklin Cudjoe, Founding Director of IMANI, thrilled the gathering, when his time came, with an amazing array of anecdotes and personal accounts of the struggles – intellectual and social – involved in the process of developing a “homegrown think-tank” that was independent-minded and prided itself on objective, but forceful, research.

He later laid open the critical elements of the debate about property rights, by situating it firmly in the struggle for fundamental freedom. Property implies empowerment and guarantees dignity. Property implies a stake in the security of the collective, because the guarantee of freedoms also, necessarily, requires a mechanism to implement restraints on any anarchic tendencies that may pose a threat to the notion of property. Therefore, property is also critical to the prospects of civil society – the layer beneath the state that activates our concerns about the collective that predate the state.

Bright B. Simons, of IMANI took participants through the rudiments of the theory of Unintended Consequences after which a spirited discussion about the role of the government in the developmental state ensued. Bright spent some time justifying his position that “specialization” and “competition” are fundamental principles that seem to produce optimal results and favour small government over big government. “We can only ask government to do more when it has demonstrated competence in the things it is specialized to do, or ought to specialize to do, such as the provision of judicial services, guaranteeing the rule of law and strengthening the framework that enables fair competition amongst self-interested private interests”.

Speaking at a development reception held at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, presidential candidate for the Convention People's Party in the 2008 election encouraged the youth to read but not to become “slaves to ideology.” “Read and understand the history of the development of the world” he urged.

Major (Rtd) Courage Quashiga, Ghana's immediate past Health Minister was full of praise for the participants for choosing to be part of the seminar and advised them to learn as much as they can to be competitively relevant in the world.

In a rather controversial but thought provoking presentation, Major Quashigah said it seemed colonialism did not only put chains on the hands and legs of Africans but their minds as well. Noting that other colonized countries have shaken off their colonial garb, he was surprised that many African leaders were holding their own to ransom with negative economic growth strategies. He urged the students to understand that there was something practically wrong with their society, and their contributions would help change the depressing reality for good.

Another speaker whose account of his life and challenges sent participants nodding and clapping every now and then was a man the BBC referred to as “Africa's Bill Gate” – Herman Chinery Hesse, founder of SOFT tribe, “the largest software company in Ghana and possibly West Africa.

Chinery Hesse used his life to demonstrate to the young Africans that one does not necessarily need to be the best student in school to be able to make a change in the world around them. Not deprecating his sharp intellect, he noted that with hindsight, school makes one think “in the box” these days and that much as educational qualifications are necessary it takes personal resolve to be able to “think outside the box” and make a difference.

He said instead of running away to the West for the so-called greener pastures, the youth must see Africa as the best place that offers them the opportunity to explore their potential and come up with solutions to the plethora of challenges facing the continent.

Speaking to Public Agenda, a number of the participants noted that they were glad to have been part of the programme and that they were going back to their various countries with a renewed sense of duty.

Akin Iwilade, a participant from Nigeria said “Knowing the difficult context of Africa's development, I am quite impressed with what Imani was able to put together. Sypala 2009 was a master piece of logistic efficiency, a testimony of the outstanding quality of a dedicated, even if rather small, staff. I came, and I do not regret it.”

Akin continues, “Even though Sypala did not instantly change my left leaning values; I have learnt something. This is that even though we live in a world that inevitably makes it difficult for the common people, for whom the state ought to exist, many of the entrepreneurs, the key drivers of the economy, are merely normal people who wish to do things for themselves. Akin added, “somehow, in my deep resentment of the exploitative logic of capitalism, I missed the obvious fact that most capitalists are indeed good people, some of them visionaries in fact, and accommodation could still, perhaps, be found within the contradictions that plague our different conceptions of the world. I am grateful for the respect with which the IMANI team treated us and must say that it is a refreshing g new ideal in a generation of falling standards.”

Mbasekei Martin Obono is a Nigerian participant who received the grand award and the founder of Youth Against Cybercrimes in Nigeria said the seminar “had helped him network and meet people to learn from their experiences.”

Benjamin Akyena, a merit award recipient of Ghana also said he had learned a lot from the seminar and the “tried and tested faculty” and that he was going back “with a renewed appetite and desire to make things happen.”

Theophilus Acheampong, winner of the "Sohne Prize for African Excellence" said “This week has been a very transformational one for me personally. It has rekindled the burning desire in me to bring about the much needed change that I want to see happen in Ghana and Africa. And for this great mission to be accomplished I need knowledge, integrity and the great entrepreneurial mindset. Theophilus received a laptop donated by Tropical Business Solutions, a colour printer donated by IPMC, Ghana and an MP3 player. The prizes were awarded by the Australian High Commissioner in Ghana, Prof. Atu Kwei Okai, and CEO of West African Business Association and IMANI's Board Chairman, Mr. Sam Poku.

After this week's intellectual and brainstorming sessions, I'm very much empowered to bring about the CHANGE that I want to see.

My life has been made better thanks to IMANI and SYPALA 2009. I'm ever ready to participate and contribute to any of IMANI's research and programs.

Lear more of the seminar at www.sypala.org , www.tedx.sypala.org www.imanighana.com and www.africanliberty.org

Basiru Adam is a features writer for Public Agenda, Ghana's only social development advocacy newspaper.