Features
A focus on Associate Professor Richard Owusu
I bring to you today a write-up about one of those who were honoured at the Finland edition of the National Youth Shakers Conclave & Awards event held in Helsinki on July 27, 2025, since I promised in my last article to write about some of the awardees.
My focus today is on Dr Richard A. Owusu, an Associate Professor at Linnaeus University in Sweden, who received an award for Societal Impact and Achievement in Education.
In a sense, this write-up continues with my narration of personalities and their accomplishments as members of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Finland.
Dr Owusu is an active and well-respected senior member of the Ghanaian community in Finland as well as other Ghanaian associations. He is also quite well known in other African communities.
He moved to Finland in the early 1990s and lived in Helsinki. He currently lives in a town near Helsinki with his wife and their three children.
Accomplishments and honours
It is important to recount accomplishments as part of the success stories of the personalities of Ghanaian descent in Finland to highlight their exploits both within the Ghanaian migrant community and in the wider Finnish society.
The National Youth Shakers Conclave award is not the only one that Prof. Owusu has won. Some time ago he was honoured by the Ghana Union Finland, an association representing the Ghanaian community in Finland.
In 2012, Dr Owusu got a permanent position as a Senior Lecturer at the Linnaeus University (Sin Sweden) and has been teaching international business subject there. He became an Associate Professor in 2016.
Educational background and academic life
Prof. Owusu had a BA degree in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon, before moving to Finland in the1990s. In Finland, he got another BA in Economics from the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, the Finnish capital city.
He went on the gain a master’s degree in International Marketing in 1995. In 1996, he was given the opportunity to pursue a PhD and had a full-time teaching position while he pursued his doctoral studies.
After completing the doctorate in 2002 from the Hanken School of Economics where he specialised in International Marketing, Dr Owusu worked in a postdoctoral capacity, lecturing at Hanken. Later, he worked briefly as an Assistant Professor and lecturer at the Vaasa University before moving to Linnaeus University in Sweden.
He has published widely in his subject area both at local and international conferences, and has also published in scientific journals and as chapters in books.
His role in the Ghanaian community
From his early days in Finland, Prof. Owusu became very active in the Ghanaian community. At the time, there were some Finns who were interested in issues concerning Ghana/Africa. That foresight saw the establishment of the Suomi-Ghana Seura (the Finland- Ghana Friendship Association).
Dr Owusu became a prominent member of the Suomi-Ghana Seura. First, he became the Secretary of the association, then the Financial Secretary/Treasurer, Vice Chairman, and eventually the Chairman of Suomi-Ghana Seura.
Later, the Ghana Union Finland (GUF) was formed by some members of the Suomi- Ghana Seura to allow mostly the Ghanaian migrants to solely take care of Ghanaian issues. It was formed in order to organise the Ghanaian community, to inform Finnish people about the good things in Ghana, and about Ghanaian migrants in Finland. Prof Owusu was thus arguably part of the founding members of the GUF.
Dr Owusu has been a counsellor and mentor who has guided many young Ghanaian migrants on their career paths and has also been active in settling various kinds of conflicts.
He lives near Helsinki with his wife and their three children—two daughters and a son. In November last year, his younger daughter was selected as Finland’s 2024 Lucia, which is a huge achievement as the first Black Saint Lucia representative (I hope to write about her some day). The Lucia of Finland is crowned in Helsinki’s main cathedral every year on December 13, bringing joy, music and light to brighten up the darkest days of the winter (see, www.lucia. fi).
This s the short but impressive story of Dr Richard Owusu. Thank you.
By Perpetual Crentsil
Email: perpetualcrentsil@yahoo.com
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THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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