Are There Scientists In Ghana?

By Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo

Attorney and Counselor at Law I began my secondary school years as a science student at the Koforidua Secondary School (K’dua Sectech) way back in 1979. My love for the sciences stemmed from the fact that it remained and still remains a tool for solving socio-economic and technological problems. The pure sciences (physics, chemistry, biology etc.) have become the sharpest tools of economic advancement in the world, and to this day, the countries that are most developed are those that have used the inventions based on these disciplines to resolve the ever-evolving needs of humankind.

However, I have come to think that apart from the pride in the simple fact of being science students or scholars, most Ghanaians have not stretched the purpose of science to its logical conclusion; for the purpose of science has nothing to do with chew, pour, pass and forget or the smarts required for one’s approbation as a science student or scholar. The purpose of science is its application to solve problems. And it is sad to say that in Ghana, scientist have not solved any of the problems of the society. We have not originated the types of unique farming methods amenable to the unique topography of our lands. We have not developed any of the methods used to cure our local diseases. We have taken no part in the origination of any of the means of communication now prevailing in the modern world. We have no inventions and discoveries to our credit, nor any renowned scientific projects in the works. In short, we have not made any dent in the bright escutcheon of everyday science. And as a nation, this should bring into sharp focus the returns on our investments in science studies. What are we gaining by training scientists in Ghana?

What has happened after over half century of scientific training and investments is that no extraordinary achievements in the sciences exist among Ghanaians. What we have inherited from our science scholars is their braggadocio that they were smart enough to have been selected to study science at school, or to have ended up becoming science scholars.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible to forgive the sordid incapacity of our science scholars to come up with radical methods of solving our unique national problems. As intolerable as it may sound, we may overlook the foolish excuses often made by these science scholars that resources do not exist for inventions, discoveries or interventions, or that the support base is absent for the commercial investment in the things we discover or invent, hence their stark lack of output.

The fundamental reward of a study in the sciences in our developing economy is the acquisition of scientific thinking, and the conformance of behavior and conduct to scientific principles. With the procurement of scientific reasoning, a person becomes an agent of change in the society insofar as what he does or says becomes the yardstick for the transformation of the societal psyche: its ethos, mores, laws and lore.

So we may have missed the bus and forfeited many opportunities to compete with the developed nations in terms of new technological inventions and discoveries. We may have fielded excuses, albeit vacuous ones, in our attempt to evade the issue of our function and usefulness as science students or scholars in the Ghanaian body politic. But what we cannot do is to circumnavigate our basic responsibility to think scientifically and to become the primary drivers of scientific thinking in our society. That is a cardinal sin that cannot be forgiven.

Unfortunately, the abandonment of scientific thinking appears to be the stock in trade of the typical Ghanaian science scholar. He is pathetically superstitious, uncreative, non-productive and non-researching. In short, he is utterly redundant in the context of the national endeavor toward the goal of scientific thinking. If in doubt, behold the proliferation of religious zealotry and so-called Sasakawa in the country. Observe the vulnerability of our leaders to spurious perorations whereby they are easily swindled by the mountebanks. Thereafter, you will conclude that scientific thinking remains absent in Ghana in spite of the investments in our science students and scholars.

The typical Ghanaian science scholar or student is a religious goon who believes and actually convinces others to believe that somebody who was crucified over two thousand years ago will descend from the skies to solve our present problems. Therefore, he commits to the lazy man’s mentality that nothing can be done to improve our lives here on earth…..that we must all wait for the apocalyptic transmogrification of our existence by a force coming forth from on high. My friend and classmate who used to be a top science student, is now the world wide General Secretary of the Pentecost Church. Another science professor in the University of Science and Technology starts his lecture with the declaration that he staunchly believes in the Bible, and that anything he teaches to the contrary is a matter of academic exercise and should be viewed as such. I also recall to my chagrin that the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in the early nineties used to lead selected students in night-long prayer sessions, although an accomplished physics scholar of some world repute. The tacit imposition of scientific thinking on everyday life leads to a greater latitude in philosophical perspective. Indeed, there is a close proximity between science and wisdom, as exemplified by the Greek philosophers who were also scientists. So the object of science studies ought to give us the rather commonplace realization that we bear the responsibility to connect cause and effect, to be objective in our analyses, logical in our conclusions and balanced in our perspectives. Unfortunately, the records available to us do not exemplify any unique propensity on the part of the Ghanaian scientist to be an exceptional scientific thinker in order to become the driver of the national psyche.

I am a lawyer now, but before that I taught English both in Ghana and in the USA. This is a radical departure in the profession of one who began as a pure science student. When I contemplate my days as a science student, I am always wondering whether it was a waste of my time…….until I wake up to the realization that somehow, my beautiful mind-my ability to think succinctly and logically- may well be the result of my science studies in my younger years. Let the science scholars in Ghana prove by their example that I am not assigning too much credit to my inchoate study of science.

Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Doctor of Jurisprudence, is a general legal practitioner resident in Austin, Texas. You can email him at [email protected].