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The *vehicle in the picture* may not be the most sophisticated; in fact, it was not made today.
This is the car Ghana made.
It was named *Boafo* and it had a twin whose name was *Adom.*
Of course, it was conceived more than 50 years ago.
In Ghana’s First Republic, a period that saw a flowering of the African genius, President *Kwame Nkrumah* called to his office, heads of the country’s vehicle importing multi-nationals and gave them a sense of his vision.
In his mind’s eye, he could see *Made-in-Ghana vehicles.* The idea was for the future. For a start, however, he asked them: *”How about bringing in the parts to be assembled here?”*
Forward-looking companies such as *UAC* (now Unilever) and *R.T Briscoe* took him up on it, set up *vehicle assembly plants, and employed graduates* from the Engineering Department of the then University of Science and Technology. One of those graduates was *Paul Victor (P.V.) Obeng*
The idea was to use these assembly plants as *Research and Development (R&D) units to transfer technology* — as China was to do much later, in the 1980s.
Many of the vehicles were rolled out of the *assembly plant and used, primarily to cart goods*, such as lumber from the then popular Accra Timber Market and fish from the Tema Fishing Harbour.
The *1966 coup* truncated that process, but the seed kept germinating. It bore fruit under the leadership of General *Kutu Acheampong.*
The *P.V. Obengs* of yesterday are the *Ave Kludzes and Ashitey Trebbi Ollenus* of today, two Ghanaian rocket scientists whose brains fly America to space.
The *African genius of the 60s* was no fluke. Ghana went on to manufacture *yachts* at the Elmina Boatyard. My information is that in addition to manufacturing deep-sea fishing vessels, *Ghana was exporting boats.*
That is a contrast to the *present era* when we need foreign exchange to import boats to replace the likes of *‘MV Dodi Princess’* on which Ghanaian tourists can cruise to the Dwarf Island or for Volta Lake transportation.
For those unborn in the 1960s, I will repeat what I wrote three weeks ago. *Ghana was manufacturing glass and bottles* at Aboso in the Western Region; *corned beef* in the Northern Region; *shoes and boots* for the security agencies; *matches* at Kade.
Look, my friend, 62 years ago Ghana set up *the Atomic Energy Commission* at Kwabenya to be responsible for all matters relating to peaceful uses of atomic energy, and the *National Nuclear Research Institute.*
So why don’t we do so today?
The answer is simple: *We don’t believe in ourselves any more*.
We do not lack scientists, but we *lack leaders that can put science and scientists to use.* That is why we are starving our scientists and researchers of funds.
Don’t tell me we could not manage those factories. Too eager to prove (and confirm to the West – USA and UK) that Kwame Nkrumah was wrong, we took *Science, Technology and Innovation* not only from the front burner but out of the kitchen altogether.
Today, Ghanaians gaze, wide-eyed, at the “miracle” of South Korea, Singapore and China. Just imagine that 46 years ago, *our Boafo and Adom were a “miracle”* to the Chinese from whom we import the *tricycles* that have become a wonder to us today.
By *Enimil Ashon*
graphic.com.gh/features/features/ghana-news-the-car-ghana-built-40-years-ago.html