Chief of Staff Julius Debrah deserves congratulations, not ridicule, on earning a PhD in Museum Studies.

The commentary circulating that he pursued the degree merely because of "pressure to be called Dr." reflects a worrying ignorance of what museums represent in modern economies. It also exposes a narrow mindset that values only degrees such as MBAs while dismissing disciplines that preserve culture, generate employment and create wealth.

I experienced similar mockery when I was appointed Chairman of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. Some people genuinely wondered why museums mattered at all. Yet many of the countries we admire understand that museums are not simply buildings filled with old artefacts. They are economic assets.

The United Kingdom provides a good illustration. Its major national museums generated £563 million in commercial revenue in 2024–25 through exhibitions, retail, restaurants, venue hire, publishing, licensing and memberships. That is roughly 20% of Ghana's annual cocoa export earnings. Museums are not just cultural institutions. They are businesses that create jobs, attract tourists, earn foreign exchange and contribute significantly to the economy.

Museums also sustain entire professional ecosystems. Every successful museum creates opportunities for archaeologists, historians, conservators, photographers, sculptors, painters, designers, architects, filmmakers, educators, tour guides, event managers, digital content creators and researchers. They stimulate publishing, merchandising, hospitality and cultural tourism. These are not theoretical jobs. They are real careers that contribute to national income.

Ironically, many of the grants, technical assistance and cultural partnerships African countries receive from Europe exist because those countries invested seriously in preserving and studying their own heritage. They appreciate that culture has economic value.

Ghana has extraordinary historical and cultural assets. Our forts and castles, traditional architecture, archaeological sites, festivals, textiles, crafts and oral histories can become engines of employment if managed professionally. Museum studies is therefore not an obscure academic pursuit. It is a practical discipline with direct implications for tourism, education, national identity and economic development.

Our problem is that too often we evaluate every qualification through the narrow lens of business administration. We have become conditioned to believe that the only worthwhile postgraduate degree is an MBA. Every society certainly needs competent business managers, but it also needs specialists who understand heritage, science, engineering, medicine, agriculture, conservation, technology and the arts.

A developed country is not built by MBAs alone. It is built by people with different forms of knowledge working together.

Congratulations to Julius Debrah on his academic achievement. Regardless of one's political persuasion, pursuing knowledge is worthy of respect. Ghana needs more intellectual curiosity and less intellectual snobbery. We should celebrate excellence wherever it is found and stop ridiculing disciplines simply because we do not understand their value.