By Benjamin Akoto,
Akropong (E/R), May 4, GNA – Rev Prof Emmanuel Adow Obeng, President of Presbyterian University College of Ghana (PUCG), has called for attitudinal change among Ghanaians to help reduce corruption and increase productivity.
“I would say that the Ghanaian attitude is bad and has adversely affected every fabric of our society,” he said.
He said unbridled corruption and poor work ethics were contributing to low productivity as hard work was no longer celebrated.
He said bad attitudes were causing the craving for wealth without working, raising serious sanitation problems in urban centres and leading to fast degradation of the environment.
He said negative attitudes had led to a break down of the family unit system that once held the people together and deepened unity and love for one another.
Rev Obeng was speaking during the graduation of 348 students, comprising 203 males and 145 females, who completed various Master degree programmes at Akropong in the Eastern Region.
The graduation was held on the theme: “Living Our Values.”
Master of Education in Educational Studies had 260 students graduating, Master of Arts in International Development Studies had 31 graduates and Master of Science in Environmental Health and Sanitation had 23 graduates.
Master of Science in Natural Resources Management also had 7 graduates while Master of Science in Financial Risk Management had 27 graduates.
Rev Obeng said attitudes were formed through experience or upbringing and had a powerful influence over behaviours that required attitudinal change to relearn and live acceptable social values.
“Those of us who are 65 years and above can attest to the family unit, the school, the church, the traditional authority and the community as the custodians of values during our childhood days, these institutions ensured the inculcation of values in the people,” he said.
He said the family unit taught character and personal values that enabled people to understand the difference between right and wrong.
These guided behaviours, decisions, and actions taught compassion, concern for others, dependability, courage, honesty, hard work, kindness, and generosity in giving time and resources to worthy causes or friends and family.
Rev Obeng said the school curriculum made people respect the environment and do their utmost best to keep the environment clean.
The church is expected to teach honesty, hard work, commitment, truthfulness, faithfulness, salvation, and judgment, he said.
However, he said, some churches had lost the moral high ground to inculcate values because their major concern was money and not salvation.
“Some of them fit the description that Jesus Christ gave to the Jerusalem Temple in his day “a den of robbers,” and they continually take advantage of gullible Ghanaians,” Rev Obeng said.
He said the traditional authority and the community played crucial roles in instilling values of hospitality, chastity before marriage, truth, covenant-keeping, sense of community, sense of good human relations, and respect for authority.
He noted that people have become materialistic rather than moral while higher education also focused on knowledge and skill development at the expense of humanity.
Dealing with the situation, he said, required a collective effort of all Ghanaians to pull the country back to moral sanity.
He called on educational institutions, media, traditional, religious, political and opinion leaders to acknowledge the reality of the problem.
He encouraged the graduates to portray the values instilled in them and not allow let the influence of the modern world of affluence affect their values.
