April 7, 2016
Manasseh Azure Awuni, former national Journalist of the Year, 2011, and Kathleen Addy, communications consultant and social activist visited Ashesi to speak on “the need for integrity in our society.”
At Ashesi, the conversation on integrity has taken a broader path to help guide all members of the community towards extending the values they imbibe beyond the campus. This semester, in an initiative led by the Office of Students and Community Affairs, students groups are paired with faculty and staff to have open-ended conversations on ethics. The Judicial and Electoral Committee (JEC), in addition, is holding a series of talks aimed at extending that discussion on ethics to include people from outside the immediate Ashesi community.
“Integrity, honour and strong ethics are values we should all be pursuing, not only within Ashesi, but when we go out there too,” said Prince Kwarase ’17, Chairperson of the JEC. “So we decided to bring people from outside the community to share with us more about integrity. It should not be just an Ashesi initiative.”
Speaking on the topic, Kathlene Addy touched on the impact of our actions both on ourselves and our communities. “We all struggle with living with integrity, living with certain ethical principles and trying to live honourably,” she said. “What we have to understand though, is that we have to contribute to making our society better. If we don’t make our contributions, we can’t expect it to fall in place for us. We have to fight harder for a better society.”
Manasseh on the other hand shared his experiences as an investigative journalist highlighting the need for integrity. “Integrity matters. It is what defines you and sets you apart from others,” he said. “People without integrity are just destruction waiting to happen.”
On the need to for us to contribute to a better society, he stressed the need for patriotism, describing it as a catalyst for a good society. “We all have equal stake in this country so when you’re doing something, think about the next generation,” he added. “Let’s begin to love our country and know that we’re the only ones who can make our country better.”
Following the talk, they addressed questions and contributions by the students and also shared the highs and lows of choosing to fight and speak up against corruption. “It boils down to making a decision about the kind of human being you want to be, the kind of life you want to live, and the kind of values you want to adopt,” Kathleen said. “Certain types of values make it easy or difficult to walk away from situations that challenge your integrity. So really, it’s about you making a decision for yourself.”
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