A few friends have asked me what the purpose of Achimota Speaks is, inevitably followed by the question "is it just another talk shop?" My answer is that it is meant to be a talk shop. I've explained further that we hope to influence policy but that is outside our control. So the primary purpose, which we can control, is enlightenment, to have discussions that provide new, expert and interesting insights and encourage people to think about our problems in a new light.
Just this morning, I've suggested to a few friends in a discussion that:
- If Achimota Speaks was to end today, I would consider it a great success
- Sometimes knowledge must be it's own objective; sooner or later, it becomes useful in unpredictable ways.
To quote from an essay last week by Neil deGrasse Tyson: "A century ago Albert Einstein laid the theoretical foundation for the laser. Many will argue that all science should be practical, with tangible stated benefits to society. But history shows this posture to be frankly, naïve. When Einstein derived his equations, I'd bet neither he nor anyone else was thinking "Barcodes!" or "Lasik Surgery!" or "Rock Concerts!""
Prof. Tyson's target was Donald Trump, who is looking to cut down on funding for scientific research because he thinks some research efforts are too theoretical and that all research must solve an immediate practical problem.
I think one of the reasons why Ghana is underdeveloped is because we don't have (or we've lost) the public intellectual as a tradition. Experts don't comment on anything just in the cause of enlightenment: our renowned economists don't comment on economic policy, sociologists don't comment on our societal problems, etc, with any objectivity, seriousness and regularity unless they are politically inclined. The debate space is occupied by people who would surely improve our society by shutting up.
What Achimota Speaks has done, in my opinion, is to enable public intellectuals to share their thoughts even if only in a setting that has a definite expiry. Achimota Speaks is scheduled for only this year as a celebration of the 90th anniversary of Achimota School. Perhaps one of our distinguished speakers, panelists or listeners with the appropriate expertise will follow on with a blog or newspaper column or carry these ideas into political office. But for now, Achimota Speaks is a forum for ideas worth sharing (if I may borrow TEDTalks tag line).
