By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, (Bono), Sept. 10, GNA-Dr Samuel Joe Acquah, the Head of the Central Laboratory of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) says Ghana’ development remains back and forth due to lack of political will of successive governments.
He said though the nation had good national policies and programmes, the failure of successive governments to implement those developmental programmes remained inimical to progressive and sustainable development.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Dr Acquah regretted that “every political party comes to power with its own development manifesto in the detriment of those designed by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC)”.
Dr Acquah cited that if well implemented, the One-District-One Factory (1D1F) programme of the previous government would prepare and position the nation well to advance her industrialization drive.
He emphasised that with strong industrialization, more job opportunities could be created for wealth creation and poverty reduction.
Dr Acquah spoke to the GNA on the sidelines of media engagement on the implementation of the “Improving Study Programmes in Ghana by Introducing Green Solutions, Sustainability Modules and Digital Transformation” (ImPreSSion) project in Sunyani.
ImPreSSion is a three-year project aimed at improving and updating three study programmes in three Ghanaian public universities that focus on energy, water and agriculture sectors.
The University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), University of Ghana (UG) and the UESD are implementing the project to achieve the targets of energy, water and agriculture sectors of the project respectively.
Dr. Acquah called for a strong link between the academia and the industry, saying “when that happens the industry who are the direct users of research will upscale it for increased productivity in all sectors of the economy”.
He said: “Our problem is not from academia, however the unwillingness of successive governments to support implementation of research findings on the larger scale for the benefit of the people”.
Earlier, Professor Elvis Asare-Bediako, the Vice Chancellor of the UENR lauded the implementation of the ImPreSSion project, saying it aligned with the mandate of the institution and would make positive impacts in society.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/George-Ramsey Benamba