Once again, the University of Ghana will see another distinguished son of Africa mount the distinguished platform of the famous Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecture Series.
Dr Kandeh Yumkella, an agricultural economist, politician, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, will deliver the 2017 lectures at the Great Hall of the university from March 21-22, 2017.
The Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures are a major event on the academic calendar of the University of Ghana. They were instituted to commemorate the contribution made by the three persons to the founding of Achimota College, now Achimota School, and more generally the advancement of education and particularly higher education in Ghana.
The three are James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey, Alexander G. Fraser and Gordon Guggisberg.
The three personalities
A native of Anomabu in Ghana, Aggrey was a great African visionary and spokesman for racial harmony and equality. He was the first Vice-Principal of Achimota School. His outstanding contributions are symbolised in the shield of the school, the black and white piano keys which stand for harmony among the black and white races.
Fraser was the first Principal of Achimota College. He is described as a humane, courageous and far-sighted Scottish educationist who brilliantly advocated education in what was then the Gold Coast in the days of skepticism about the educational potential of the African.
Guggisberg is remembered for giving concrete expression to the ideals, far in advance of the official colonial thinking of his day, which formed the basis of Ghana’s present progress. Under his vigorous sponsorship, Achimota School is said to have grown to become one of the most distinguished educational institutions in Africa.
Railways, major roads and a major hospital were also constructed during his tenure. It is perhaps the reason Guggisberg is described as the best administrator that Britain ever sent to govern a West African colony.
Inaugural lecture
Lady Jackson (Barbara Ward), a British economist and author, delivered the inaugural lectures in 1957.
So far, 35 distinguished people from Africa, Europe, Asia and North America have contributed to academic discourse through the flagship annual lecture series.
Ten years after The Rt Hon. Lord Paul Boateng had delivered the lectures in the Jubilee Year of Ghana in 2007 on the theme: “The Black Star Rising – Some Challenges for Ghana and Africa in the 21st Century”, isn’t it heartening that another African, Dr Yumkella, will mount this platform in the 60th year of Ghana’s independence?
Dr Yumkella is expected to deliver a two-day captivating lecture on the theme: “Africa: A Continent of Hope, Opportunity and Transformation” from today to tomorrow at the magnificent Great Hall of the University of Ghana at 5.00 p.m. daily.
Two other topics: “Challenges for Energy Transitions” and “Transforming Africa’s Agriculture and Agribusiness” will form part of the lectures.
They will be chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu.
Special congregation
As Dr Yumkella delivers the 2017 Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures, it will also be the second time a Sierra Leonean will mount the platform. Dr Davidson Nicol, the Sierra Leonean academic, diplomat, physician, writer and poet, delivered the fourth Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures in 1963 on the theme: “Africa – A Subjective View”.
As is the custom of the university, the distinguished lecturer will be conferred with an honorary degree at a Special Congregation immediately following the second day of the lecture.
uniBank has proudly sponsored the Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures for the past three years and the continuing partnership has enabled the university to organise successful lectures.
Once again, the university calls on all stakeholders in academia, industry, alumni, individual and corporate friends of the university, members of international organisations and institutions, members of the Diplomatic Corps and, indeed, all members of the public to participate in what promises to be another illuminating discourse.
The writer, a Deputy Registrar at the University of Ghana, is currently the director of Public Affairs
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