36th Kristo Asafo Technology Exhibition held in Accra

The 36th annual Christ Reformed Church (Kristo Asafo) Technology Exhibition was held in Accra last Sunday.

The fair, on the theme: “Promoting religion, science and technology for socio-economic transformation”, attracted many dignitaries, including the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; vice-chancellors of universities and some Members of Parliament (MPs).

Exhibition

Items manufactured by the Founder and Leader of the mission, Apostle Dr Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, and his team of engineers from the Kantanka Technological Centre of Excellence (KTCE) at Gomoa Mpota in the Central Region were displayed at the exhibition centre at Awoshie.

They included a locally made V8 car engine block, a three-wheel motorbike, a robotic welding machine, a special smoke detector and tower weapons for warfare.

The engineers also demonstrated how the machines worked to those in attendance.

Some of the dignitaries were conducted round the exhibition centre by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kantanka Automobile Limited, Mr Kwadwo Safo Jnr.

Industrialisation

Speaking at the exhibition, Nana Akufo-Addo expressed the desire of his yet-to-be-sworn-in government to partner the private sector to speed up the country’s industrialisation.

He said the private sector would play a pivotal role in the country’s quest to ensure the realisation of the one-district-one-factory policy.

Accordingly, he said his government would encourage and collaborate with Ghanaian scientists, entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors, such as Apostle Safo, towards accelerating the industrialisation process.

“Ghanaian scientists and inventors such as Apostle Safo are the kind of people my government will work with closely to speed up the industrialisation process.

“My government will protect, encourage and collaborate with Apostle Safo to take the nation higher in the area of science and technology,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.

Right team

The President-elect added that the country’s desire for greater heights could only be achieved if the right team was put in place, noting that science and technology were key components for the development of the nation, for which reason his administration would ensure that committed Ghanaians with insight into science and technology would manage the sector.

He announced that the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, would be assigned responsibility for the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) when the former CEO was approved by Parliament.

Nana Akufo-Addo expressed high hopes in the Ghanaian physician and cardiothoracic surgeon who established the National Cardiothoracic Centre that he would bring the needed change to the sector.

He was of the belief that science and technology were key areas which needed to be strengthened to attain development, adding that persons who were making giant strides in the sector needed to be motivated to attain higher heights.

Prioritise technology

For his part, Apostle Safo urged Nana Akufo-Addo’s incoming government to prioritise science and technology for the rapid development of the nation.

He said the world was moving at a faster pace in the areas of science and technology and that Ghana could not be naïve about that development.

Apostle Safo also reiterated his call for a change in the educational curricular of the country to make it more practically focused than theoretical.

He said he did not understand why Ghana was giving much attention to other disciplines, to the neglect of science and technology, stressing that the same attention given to the Humanities ought to be accorded science programmes.

“I would like to reiterate the point I have made several times that there is the need for the country to take a second look at our educational curriculum to make it more practical oriented, so that we can train students with the requisite skills, competencies and know-how to help in the development agenda of Ghana and Africa as a whole,” he said.

Assistance

The Director of Academic Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso,  called on the incoming government to assist Apostle Safo to manufacture more vehicles and technological implements for the benefit of the nation.

For his part, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu, who co-chaired the event with Prof. Ayum Teye, the Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), added his voice to the call on the incoming administration to make reforms that would focus the country’s development policy more on science and technological development.

Prof. Teye announced that the UDS would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the KTCE to enable students of the UDS to undergo practical training at the KTCE.