A U.K. based Minister, Educationist, author and social commentator has said Ghana can benefit greatly from the mass exodus of her trained and highly skilled professionals to other countries in search of greener pastures what is usually referred to as ‘brain drain’. He made the call when addressing a section of Ghanaians in Brixton London.

Rev. Godson-Afful contended that the mass exodus of Ghanaian professionals can be a mixed blessing but can be mutually beneficial to both Ghana and the destinations these professionals fetch their greener pastures from. He argued that benefits derived can to be traced to the amount of remittances Ghanaians abroad send home which boost our foreign exchange reserve as well as the experience and exposure gained by these professionals.

He called on the government to be in constant touch with the Embassies and foreign missions at home to try and make visa acquisition very easy and flexible so that people can return home easily. In his opinion if people know that they won’t have problems acquiring visas they will certainly return to their country of origin after their study or visit to help improve the lot of mother Ghana. Also of great importance is the development at home. He said the ministry of Tourism should liaise with Ghanaian missions abroad to organise events like Ghana Day and other educational/developmental oriented programmes to educate Ghanaians abroad on the benefits of returning home and the support mechanisms available to them. The security given to businessmen in the diaspora should also be improved so that people are encouraged to return.

He suggested that people who are sent on government scholarships to study abroad should be made to pay something little towards the various educational funds to help other bright but needy children in Ghana. ‘What the government can also do, is to enter into some sort of agreement with some of the governments who need our professionals. For example our doctors who have benefited from certain government educational programmes can be leased to various countries for period of time as it’s done in the game of football and work out a package which will be beneficial to the professional involved, the government of Ghana as well the country concerned. They can be asked pay some rate back to the government and the institution which trained the doctor back in Ghana to enable them put up infrastructure to enhance the training of more doctors’ he said.

He said even though we worry about doctor shortages for instances, he believes we can train more doctors if we have the adequate spaces in our doctor training universities to be able to get more doctors to enrol. He lamented situations where many qualified students have been turned away from pursuing their dream careers to not because they failed to make the grade but because lack of spaces in our institutions. He said Ghana has very strong intellectual base which can be used heavily to our advantage. He said we could well engage in very legal professional export what he terms ‘the brain export’ rather than brain drain. You cannot prohibit people from moving because human rights laws advocates for freedom of movement but you can cash in on the brains you have produced especially those who have receive substantial government funding.

Report by John K Blessing, Afrique Media, London.