"Three things kept coming up for every problem; corruption, weak institutions and the people who run them"
This is what William Easterly said about him;
Meanwhile, for a Ghanaian man named Patrick Awuah, 2005 was the fourth year of running a successful private university that he started with his own money: Ashesi University, the "Swarthmore of Ghana." The university reserves half the spaces in its entering class for poor students on scholarship. "We want to train people as critical thinkers," Awuah says. One of his most satisfying moments came when a student sent him an e-mail: "Mr. Awuah, I am thinking now."
Awuah says that he could do more, but like some other enterprising individuals in Africa I know of, he has been turned away by official aid agencies. Everyone, it seems, was invited to the "Save Africa" campaign of 2005 except for Africans. They starred only as victims: genocide casualties, child soldiers, AIDS patients and famine deaths on our 43-inch plasma screens.
For Discussion: I've often wondered from where all these corrupt parliamentarians and politicians are coming from- I would have thought education aught to make a difference. A minority appears educated in the best 'liberal arts colleges' of the world but the majority of these corrupt civil servants, etc are being produced locally. Thinking critically can be taught but can we teach integrity?
Related;
Building a University, and Hope, in Ghana
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