Youth Must Step Up to Build Ghana Now: MiDA Acting CEO
Alexander Kofi-Mensah Mould, the Acting Chief Executive of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), has urged Ghana's youth to become indispensable partners in building the country's prosperity today, not just leaders of tomorrow.
Delivering a keynote address at the University of Education, Winneba's Seminar on Conflict and Nation Building, Mr. Mould argued that Ghana's future would depend less on its natural resources and more on the capabilities, character, and execution of its people.
Building Prosperity Through Capability
Mr. Mould used examples from Singapore, South Korea, Finland, and Botswana to illustrate that prosperous nations are not those endowed with abundant natural resources but those that deliberately invest in capable people and strong institutions. He described development as "the sustained increase in a nation's ability to solve its own problems," emphasizing that prosperity is achieved through innovation, productivity, and disciplined execution.
Prosperous nations, he said, "deliberately invest in capable people and strong institutions." Resources, he added, create potential, but it is capability that converts potential into prosperity.
Universities Must Produce Nation-Builders
The Acting MiDA CEO challenged universities across Africa to move beyond producing graduates and instead cultivate nation-builders equipped to solve real societal challenges. He proposed that every graduate should leave university with five critical capabilities: critical thinking, execution, value creation, collaboration, and strong character.
Mr. Mould urged universities to shift their focus from producing job seekers to producing problem solvers. He noted that societies reward individuals who consistently solve important problems and urged young Africans to invest in skills that create value wherever they go.
A Call to Responsibility
Concluding his address, Mr. Mould urged the next generation to reject mediocrity, entitlement, and blame, and instead embrace responsibility, integrity, and disciplined execution. He maintained that history would judge today's generation not by the speeches it delivered or conferences it attended, but by the institutions it strengthened, the opportunities it created, and the generation it prepared.
The Ghana you hope for will not appear because someone else imagined it, Mr. Mould said. "It will appear because your generation prepares for it, builds it, protects it, and improves it."
Source: Joy Online
