Otumfuo Osei Tutu II with a top World Bank official in Washington DC
The Asantehene,
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged the World Bank to continue to collaborate with
developing countries in the implementation of pragmatic policies to help
accelerate economic growth.
According to him,
the World Bank (WB) was established, among other things, to ensure the
infrastructural and total development of developing countries in particular,
stressing the need for the WB to always adhere to the principles for which it was
set up.
The Asantehene,
who is currently in the United States (US) to attend several important
programmes, including an upcoming United Nations forum, visited the World Bank
headquarters in Washington to interact with the leaders there.
He pointed out that poverty, diseases and ignorance could be eradicated with the continuous intervention of the World Bank.
“The World Bank
was established for infrastructural development of developing countries so they
have responsibility to design programmes that will be best suited for the
development of the world, thereby making the world peaceful in relation to
development,” the Asantehene stated.
He tasked workers
of the World Bank to carry out their duties in line with the mandate of the
World Bank.
Human Resource Development
The Asantehene also
underscored that human resource development is the key to the proper
transformation of every country and entreated world leaders to ensure that
their people are well-educated in order to ensure they become useful to the
world.
Otumfuo, who is
the Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
(KNUST), said the KNUST has been playing vital roles over the years to help
ensure that students from Ghana and other countries are properly trained.
Science Education
He also called
for the need for science and mathematics education to be given serious
attention, indicating that those two subjects are key to the future
transformation.
Culture and Tradition
The Asantehene
revealed that he would lead the Ashanti Kingdom to respond to the necessary
adjustments in culture and traditions in order to meet the expectations of
present demands, saying, “Culture is not static, it is dynamic. So as time
moves, you cannot stick to the old style of culture, especially when it is link
with education. As we move on, we look at various ways of
developing our culture and better ways to improve the lives of our people.”
He added, “We
need to look for various ways of adapting to modern needs of society, using
education. We cannot live like what we did in the past. We should look for
modern ways to transform mankind.”
The Asantehene is also expected to deliver an address on September 13, 2019 at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly about how he has been able to combine culture and modernity to transform Asanteman and Ghana during the last two decades.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
