Former Presidents of Ghana and Botswana, John Dramani Mahama and Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama have jointly called on African leaders to work towards driving the continent to its full potential and economic prosperity.
Mahama and Khama made the call on Saturday at the Second Edition of the African Heritage Awards held in Lagos.
They pointed out that African founding fathers, such as Kwameh Nkrumah had wanted the continent to come out of independence as one nation and lamented that Africa lost that opportunity
Their call came in the wake of political instability that has wrecked parts of Africa and has seen a number of countries relegated to military rule.
Both men spoke during a strategic Panel Session themed: ‘Shaping Africa’s Path To Prosperity’, where they noted that the youthful population of the continent is fast growing.
Recalling the pre-independence era, Dramani lamented that “Africa does not have the opportunities that advanced countries had in the past.
“There’s nobody to colonize, there is nobody to enslave; all those things gave them the edge in their trajectory towards development.
“Our founding fathers, Kwameh Nkrumah had wanted the African continent to come out of independence as one nation, but unfortunately, we lost that opportunity and became 54 different countries, flags, anthems and markets. This has constituted trade tariffs and other barriers,” he added.
He admitted that Africa is currently moving towards the right direction, adding that the laid-out economic blueprints of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other regional “trade schemes are steps in the right direction” that “will allow our people to have a market of about 1.3 billion people.
“There’s more money leaving the African continent than money coming in. All the loans, donations and grants take more money out of Africa than what comes in. In Africa, we should not need a visa to travel from Ethiopia to Ghana,” he said.
Similarly, the former Botswana President regretted that despite the huge amount of human and natural resources domiciled in Africa, the continent has not transited into economic prosperity. He blamed corruption and bad leadership for the drawbacks.
Khama said from his experience as a politician, it can be agreed that a lot of Africa’s “problems and instability are caused by some politicians.
“My observation is that those politicians who fail to put the interests and needs of their people first are a cause for backwards”
He added that the “power-hungry, self-serving individuals taking control of our countries” are driving the continent backwards.
“We need leaders who are humble enough to understand that their role is simply to be of service to their people.”
Power hungry, self-serving leaders controlling Africa – Ex-Presidents, Mahama, Khama