Tema-Ghana, July 21, GNA – Professor Roger Koranteng, the Head of Public Sector Governance at the Commonwealth Secretariat in the United Kingdom, has stated that the decision to turn Ghana’s polytechnics into universities was misplaced.
He said such a decision could be blamed for poor quality and a lack of skilled labour, adding that a lot of graduates were being churned out annually without employable skills.
He said it was worrying that instead of strengthening the polytechnics to train people for the country, they have been turned into universities training marketers and administrators, a situation that was building on the existing unemployment rate.
Prof. Koranteng, credited with the establishment of the Association of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, to promote inter-agency collaboration and learning through the sharing of experiences and best practises, said this at the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office progressive anti-corruption media platform: “Is the Fight Against Corruption a Mirage or Reality?”
Answering questions on the effect of corruption on businesses and the attitude of Ghanaian workers, he said it was about time that the Commission for Technical and Vocational Educational Training (COTVET) and other stakeholders considered building more secondary technical and vocational schools to offer entrepreneurship skills to build the economy.
Speaking on the topic “Expanding the Frontiers of Combating Corruption in Ghana: Policy and Strategy Options,” Prof. Koranteng said polytechnics must also exist for such students to progress and get certification in their chosen field, adding that developed countries all over the world attained growth through skilled labour.
He said the absence of such institutions was depriving both public and private establishments of qualified people to work with, a situation that had forced business owners to turn to Asia and sometimes some African countries for labour, even though there were a huge number of unemployed people in Ghana.
Prof. Koranteng recalled, for instance, that when Ghana had to do its first recruitment for the oilfield at Takoradi, the opportunity was opened to certified Ghanaian welders, but none were found.
He said it was worrying that the youth, instead of learning on the job and giving off their best when employed, were only interested in getting rich quick and amassing worth within a short period; “they want to have cars and houses within a year of work when it took their fathers over 25 years to do so.”
He said some of the youth also engaged in stealing, bad work ethics, and reporting to work late, among others, when employed, with the notion that the establishment was not theirs, forgetting that if they help sustain the business, they will also have work to do for years.
He projected that if nothing drastic was done about the situation and Ghanaians did not make an ethical shift, a time would come when the youth would be desperate because of a lack of jobs, which could lead to unwarranted xenophobic attacks on foreigners working at places that they might feel should have employed them.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager commended Prof. Koranteng for the relentless fight against corruption across African and within the commonwealth.
