Professor Ransford Gyampo, a lecturer in political science at the University of Ghana in Legon, has observed that it is unfortunate that some Ghanaians place more significance on obtaining a passport from a foreign nation than pursuing further education.
According to him, this kind of thinking is a reflection of a failing state, and he pointed out that the nation as it is today is nothing like the vision that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, had for it when he led the country’s independence struggle.
“PhD or Dutch passport? It’s symptomatic of a failed state. The nation builders, who are supposed to be helping to build the nation are choosing the passports of another country and they are priding themselves in cleaning toilets over PhD. We should bow down our heads in shame. This is not the Ghana Kwame Nkrumah envisaged. This is not the spirit Kwame Nkrumah wanted to develop in Ghanaians that we will be so patriotic and hold our passport with a certain pride,” he said.
This comes after comments made just over two weeks ago by well-known Ghanaian social media figure Kofi Gabs—who lives in the Netherlands and makes ends meet by cleaning toilets—about the importance of educational accomplishments in Ghana caused a great deal of controversy.
Gabs made the case that a PhD from Ghana is less useful than his Dutch passport in a video that has now gone viral.
During a conversation on TV3’s The Key Points, Prof. Gyampo expressed his displeasure at the way some Ghanaians who left their home country in search of better opportunities elsewhere have found joy in taking on menial professions.
Gabs talked about his own experience using the ESTA app to apply for a visa to visit a friend in the US, highlighting how simple it was for him to get approved because he is Dutch.
He emphasised how quick and simple the process was, saying that it went far more smoothly than he would have if he had a Ghanaian passport. Gabs went on to say that having a Dutch passport had more practical advantages than having a PhD from Ghana.
The Ghanaian community has responded in a variety of ways, most of them negatively. Many Ghanaians defended the worth of advanced degrees from their home country in the post’s comments section.