The Chief Executive Officer of African Broadcast Network (ABN) Holdings Limited and media practitioner with many years of experience, Mr. George Twumasi, has advised young people to strive to change society.
He dismissed the notion that the youth have nothing to offer in the development of our nation, adding that the very ideas from the young people that are neglected are the ones needed to prepare them to move the country forward.
Mr. Twumasi was speaking as a guest lecturer to Group 3 students of Print News Writing (COMS 208) at the instance of Dr. Etse Sikanku, a Senior Lecturer and Director of Research, Innovation and Development (DRID) at UniMAC-GIJ.
He encouraged the students to expand their knowledge to be able to question the status-quo of gerontocracy which is seen across the African continent, including Ghana.
“We live in a society where unfortunately we are driven by gerontocracy which portrays leadership by the elderly as superior to leadership by young people. Actually the ideas that you have that you take for granted are the most powerful ideas that will shape you in years to come”.
He said although students graduate from the university as a group, not all of them end up in what he described as the “knowledge aristocracy group” of our time.
“All of us here are a knowledge fraternity. In a couple of years, you will don your graduation gowns and someone will say class of 2026 or 2027. But after that, you will need to evolve into a knowledge aristocracy. Not all of you are going to make it, unfortunately,” he said.
“Those who represent the knowledge aristocracy of our time are those who want to bring about change in our society, those who look at the governance or leadership structure and say there’s something wrong. Those who listen to debates at the house of Parliament and see the quality of MPs and say no there’s something here that I can do,” Mr. Twumasi added.
The ABN Holdings CEO noted that, journalists had the responsibility of providing less educated Ghanaians accurate information through their reportage.
By Emmanuel Kwarteng