The Presbyterian University College, Ghana (PUCG) held its 3rd Discipline in Leadership Public Lecture for the first time outside Accra. The event was held at the RTC Auditorium at Abetifi Kwahu.
The Guest Speaker Nana Ansah Kwao IV spoke on the theme “Rethinking Our Cultural Identity For Nation Building: The Role Of Tertiary Institutions In Ghana.
Touching on Re-educating ourselves, Nana Ansah Kwao IV said that Ghanaians are sometimes praised for neglecting the subject of Ghanaian culture, blackness and knowing and accepting who we are.
“Most of us have survived perfectly well in the absence of self-realization and not knowing our own culture. The first role of the tertiary institutions is to face it and accept this bitter truth,” He said.
Nana Ansah Kwao IV disclosed that culture defines the development of a people and how they solve problems that they encounter. “Most solutions that we borrowed from elsewhere that did not have our cultural influence in it came in to exacerbate the very problem it was meant to solve,” he posited.
Nana implored the Management of PUCG and other tertiary institutions in Ghana to, as a matter of policy, make issues of culture and identity an emotional subject and not with the usual sympathetic approach.
He said, as a country we are currently developing largely on foreign cultures and this leaves a huge gap in the market for us to explore.
According to the traditional ruler, the tertiary institutions should instill in their students the good cultural values and dispel the negative perceptions that “we have grown to believe. This is important for our graduates to be able to defend whenever their culture is misinterpreted.”
The Lecture was well attended by students from about ten Senior High Schools on the Kwahu Ridge, representatives from Government Agencies in the Kwahu area, Chiefs and elders from Kwahu Traditional Council, ministers of the Gospel from various denominations as well as folks from the Community