Juxtaposing the story of a Ghanaian inventor who has received nothing for his work and the amount the country has lost to payment of avoidable judgment debts, extravagant expenditure on state events, makes one wonder what the country’s priorities are.
62 year old Paul Karikari is the inventor of the first locally made dry cell technology using wood ash and starch. He is also the brain behind an organic fertilizer compound using fruits.
Another innovative product which can effectively deal with hypothermia in cold countries is a heat powder. The powder is able to generate up to hundred degrees Celsius of heat within four minutes even in snow. The producer of herbal paints with a liquid he carefully mixed can turn any plant into paint for art work.
Sitting in the studios of Ultimate Radio displaying a beautiful painting he had made with his herbal based paint which he produced with his black water solution he stated sadly, “It is rather sad to say that for all my inventions nobody has offered me even a pesewa in support of my work. All my projects remain under my bed and I have decided to stay on my own. When God calls me, I will go home. ”
This is but one of the several inventions that has gone down the drain of desperation and frustration without attention and support on Ghanaian soil which has leaders barking home grown solutions on every platform.
Speaking on the Ultimate Morning Show, the retired teacher and inventor, expressed worry about the nation’s failure to support and harness the potentials of individuals who have developed unique inventions in the country.
Paul Karikari, who has four inventions to his credit, said he has received no tangible help to expand his innovations since he began his creation expedition. The farthest he has reached was a letter from the late President John Evans Mills promising to support his innovation, a hope which faded away with the demise of the former president.
Commiserating with the sad incidence of untold success stories, the Vice President of the Ghana Technology University College, Robert Awuah Baffuor explained that Karikari’s plight only painted the picture of a state which has failed in supporting research and innovation to help advance the its growth.
“I don’t think we are doing anything concrete to support small inventions and small businesses coming up in this country. If you travel outside, you are going to see that research is vital to development. But in this country every researcher can tell that government is not providing enough resources and infrastructure to support research here so we can’t go into any good and key research and that is one of the downfalls of our economy”.
Mr. Awuah Baffuor believes the way forward for Ghana in harnessing its talents is to strengthen its middle class and create more avenues for advanced innovations and creative ideas to thrive.
He is calling for incubator programmes to begin in the country to ensure that people with ideas get some grooming and support to commercialize their inventions.