{"id":654230,"date":"2019-07-11T07:54:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T07:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"
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The CEO\u00a0of Dalex Finance has urged economists to use vernacular\u00a0or simple English in their public communication. <\/p>\n

Ken Thompson believes this will enable them to contribute effectively to shaping and driving public policy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of meaningless and empty phrases to make it look like people know what they are talking about must stop\u2026our economists must be passionate about economics as the pastors are about their collections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Speaking at a forum to launch the \u2018K.B. Amissah Arthur Chair in Economics\u2019 initiative, he lamented the worsening state of affairs of the country\u2019s economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He
\n registered his\u00a0unhappiness\u00a0with the failure of economists to
\neffectively engage policymakers to provide solutions to the country\u2019s
\nproblems.<\/p>\n

The Chartered Accountant said, \u201cthe economic challenges facing Ghana are complex \u2013 high youth unemployment, high debt levels, low national income, compensation of employees, interest expense and statutory deductions constituting an average of over 90% of the country\u2019s budgeted income. This leaves very little money for investment\u201d. <\/p>\n

The
\n Dalex Finance CEO\u00a0stated that\u00a0academia needs to lobby for change and
\ndevelop long term relationships with policymakers either directly or
\nindirectly. A relationship he said\u00a0should be based on mutual trust and
\nrespect.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough civil servants and politicians sometimes lack expert knowledge in their policy fields, they react unfavourably, if at all, to lengthy technical and opaque documents that academia produces. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe
\n have often tried to circumvent the need for healthy engagement by
\nencouraging academia to cross over to active politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Thompson added that \u201cThere have been several \u2018successes\u2019 in pursuing this workaround including Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur of blessed memory, Dr Kwesi Botchway and Dr. Jones Ofori-Atta also of blessed memory and others too numerous to mention. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis
\n route, despite the many success stories is not a sustainable way to
\nachieve the objective of academia influencing policy. Because the danger
\n is that the academics who become partisan politicians may fall into the
\n same trap as the policymakers they seek to influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

According
\n to him, \u201cThere are three main reasons why academia frequently fails to
\ninfluence policy \u2013 failure to produce clear outcomes without caveats,
\nreluctance to clearly define policy implications, difficulty in
\ncommunicating findings in an accessible way. At that point, the
\npolicymakers are looking for their Prophet or Alhaji.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n