Dr. Jacob Pareechuga Anankware, a parliamentary candidate for the National Democratic Congress in the Upper East Region’s Navrongo Central constituency, has urged scientists across the nation to get involved in politics.
Dr. Anankware explained that if this is done, national policies will be formulated based on sound development-oriented research and are more likely to meet the requirements of Ghanaians rather than policies that serve the political leaders’ parochial interests.
He made these comments when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show. Dr. Jacob Pareechuga Anankware is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Horticulture and Crop Production at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).
Dr. Anankware premised his argument on the fact that Ghana continues to lag behind despite its potential because of the lack of intellectual participation.
“You could see in those countries that they make good use of the intellectual resources available to them. They do not disregard them. They make good use of research. Most of the research that I have done and that fellow scientists have done is usually shelved. We keep losing our brains, our intelligent ones, to the West.”
“For me, governments have to make conscious efforts, and scientists have to begin to have an active role in politics. You have to push for your ideas to be added to the development of this country,” he said.
Dr. Anankware, an entomologist, explained that over the past few years, he has committed his life to training and empowering over 2000 farmers in the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti, and Eastern regions of Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Kenya to sustainably rear larvae of the African palm weevil (Rhynchophorus phoenicis), also called “akokono” in Akan, to improve their nutrition and income. He also rears larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illuscens) as a cheap source of protein to replace fish meal and soybean meal in fish and poultry feed. This will make it easy for Ghanaian farmers to produce cheap meat and fish.
Due to his success in private life, Dr. Anankware explained that it is necessary for the delegates of the party to give him the mandate so he can get a bigger platform to train more people while developing and pushing policies that support national growth.
Dr. Anankware charged the media to highlight the work of scientists.
“Government has a role to play, and journalists have a role to play in getting people to know what scientists are churning out daily,” he said.
He also called on scientists to be more vocal in their daily activities, taking charge and communicating the results of their studies.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
