Africa’s youth poised to change continent’s destiny

…after SYPALA 2008
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Wednesday, July 9, 2008
At the end of the 2008 Students and Young Professionals Liberty (SYPALA) in Accra, the 40 participants drawn from Ghana, Nigeria and Guinea, vowed to strive to change the destiny of an obviously struggling Africa continent.
The programme was put together by the Imani Centre of Policy and Education, in conjunction with the CATO institute, and the Smith Family Foundation.
Held under the theme ‘Liberty abreast African intellect,’ the programme had as its aim, to develop and maximise the potentials of the teeming youth of the African continent, by deepening their knowledge, and engaging them in scholastic dialogue.
The seminar, which took place from June 22 - June 27, 2008, enabled participants and various speakers to exchange ideas, and broaden their perspectives, by exploring innovative solutions to the foremost challenges facing society.
Among the speakers were the Vice President of the CATO Institute, Tom Palmer, former Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. Gen. Arnold Quainoo (Rtd), former Chief Executive of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST), Dr. Kwabena Donkor, among other top brass lecturers, who took participants through a cursory analysis of modern development trends.
They treated topics like civil-military relationship in Africa, energy security, policy monitoring and evaluation and foundations of public policy analysis, and journalism.
Dr. Kwabena Donkor gave an excellent hour-long extempore talk, on Africa's challenges in managing her energy resources, and the record of African governments and private sector entities, in developing pro-industry and pro-commerce energy strategies.
Dr. Donkor has managed a perfect transition, from the high-octane world of top-level business management, to the rarefied environs of Academia, with his customary elegance and skill.
He currently leads curriculum development at Ghana's largest private university, the Central University College, within the MBA Office.
Mr. Kofi Bentil's lecture examined the themes and theses that best exemplify best thinking, on the connection between environmental transformation, and agricultural sustainability, and which transcend hysterical, Malthusian notions of scarcity.
Speaking on the rule of law, Prof. Ken Attafuah, the Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute, said "there are no persons in the state, who are above the law, no matter their political pedigree, and it is deeply worrying when persons are convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction, and all of a sudden the independence of the judiciary becomes a matter of public ridicule and criticism."
51years after gaining independence from the shackles of colonialism, the Executive Director of Imani, the Centre for Policy and Education and Editor of Africanliberty.org, Franklin Cudjoe, said Ghana still had a few more hurdles to cross.
On his part, the Executive Director of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Cletus Kosiba, said "Ghanaian industries have a huge opportunity to take advantage of markets across the West African Sub region, although the lack of capacity is holding them back.”
He used two revealing examples to show that, indeed, lack of capacity was clipping the wings of SMEs in the country.
Mr. Kwesi Jonah, a leading expert on political economy, engaged the class on the topic "Populism and Participatory Democracy: Why Elections are not enough."
Mr. Jonah based his lecture on the broader context of the co-resurgence of republicanism, referring both to institutions and sovereignty, and public diplomacy as collaborating strands of anti-populist discourse across Africa, as is evident in the recent crises in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Given the deficit of libertarian thought on the continent, Dr. Tom Palmer gave a good deal of understanding of sound institutions. needed for participants to grasp the workings of a truly free society. One such topic was on the value of property rights.
Dr. Palmer’s tutorial “covered norms (both sociologically and morally),on the history of property, the theory of ownership, theory of institutions, the economics of property/capital, with examples from the Icelandic ITQ system of property in fish, Hernando de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital, and the like.”
Dr. Palmer regularly lectures in America, Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East, on political science, public choice, civil society, and the moral, legal, and historical foundations of individual rights, and has been published widely.
The 2008 Whetstone-Korsah award for emerging went to Susu Allordey. The Whetstone-Korsah Prize (Linda Whetstone & Arku Korsah Award for Emerging Leadership) is named for two great proponents of the free market, and the rule of law in Africa and the World: Linda Whetstone, Board Chairperson of the London-based International Policy Network, and Sir Arku Korsah, West Africa's first Black Chief Justice, whose unflinching support for judicial integrity, led to a famous confrontation with Ghana's socialist first President.
At the end of it, Augusta Kolekang, one of the participants, could not but remark “I must say in all honesty, that it was a great experience, that I will forever recommend to everybody, especially to young people who wish Ghana, and for that matter Africa, becomes a better and prosperous continent to live in, sooner than later.
“The week-long conference has really opened my mind to a lot of things that I would have otherwise not known, if I had not been part of this year's seminar.
“Indeed, what Africa needs at this current socio-political dispensation, is a liberalized socio-economic system, devoid of excessive governmental control, by minimizing political power, whilst upholding the principles of rule-of-law and good governance, so as to create an atmosphere for innovation, which will consequently lead to alleviation of Africa's worst disease, poverty.”