Dr KandehYumkella, a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, has indicated that there is hope for the new generation of Africa to compete on the global scene in the next three decades to come.

He said this when he delivered the 2017 Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecturesat the Great Hall of the university on Tuesday.

The Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecturesare a major event on the academic calendar of the University of Ghana. They were instituted to commemorate the contribution made by the three persons to the founding of Achimota College, now Achimota School, and more generally the advancement of education and particularly higher education in Ghana.The three are James EmmanKwegyirAggrey, Alexander G. Fraser and Gordon Guggisberg.

Speaking on the theme “Africa: a continent of hope, opportunity and transformation” he said the mistakes made during the lost decades of the 70s, 80s, 90s and the early 2000 provide a lot for the current generation to reflect upon inorder to be able to compete with the rest of the world.

The added that the mistake the last generation made was that they were not moving with the rest of the world. He advised that this generation must push for industrialization as the Asian Tigers did in the last five decades and increase investment in energy transition and infrastructure.

Dr. Yumkella wondered why news about Africa has over the years been changing.

“Africa has been described as the dark continent, a continent of AIDS among others. The new narrative is Africa is rising. What has changed” he asked.

He bemoaned the generalization of negative happenings about Africa by the western media and scholars.

He concluded that the projection about Africa in the coming decades is positive stressing that the population will increase by 1 billion and that internet services will take hold of the world as well as the food and beverage industry.

Inaugural lecture

Lady Jackson (Barbara Ward), a British economist and author, delivered the inaugural lectures in 1957.

So far, 35 distinguished people from Africa, Europe, Asia and North America have contributed to academic discourse through the flagship annual lecture series.

Ten years after The Rt Hon. Lord Paul Boateng had delivered the lectures in the Jubilee Year of Ghana in 2007 on the theme:

“The Black Star Rising – Some Challenges for Ghana and Africa in the 21st Century”. Dr.Yumkella,mounted this platform in the 60th year of Ghana’s independence.

Special congregation

As is the custom of the university, the distinguished lecturer will be conferred with an honorary degree at a Special Congregation immediately following the second day of the lecture.