The report of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s charge on African countries to wean themselves off “begging” the West to earn global respect and change poor perceptions about the continent is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has said that African countries must wean themselves off “begging” the West to earn global respect and change poor perceptions about the continent.
“If we stop being beggars and spend African money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve. If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow,” Mr Akufo-Addo said.
He made the remarks during the opening of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC.
Mr Akufo-Addo urged greater solidarity among Africans to address shared aspirations.
“Africans are more resilient outside the continent than inside. We must bear in mind that to the outside world, [there’s] nothing like Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are simply Africans. Our destiny as people depends on each other,” he said.
The president said that the continent had skills and manpower but needed concerted political will to make “Africa work”.
Mr Akufo-Addo’s remarks came on the day that the International Monetary Fund agreed to give Ghana a $3bn (£2.4bn) loan to alleviate an unprecedented economic downturn in the West African country.
Dozens of African leaders are in Washington to discuss cooperation with the US amid growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent.
The newspaper says that Ghana has secured a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the injection of $3 billion into the economy over the next three years.
The IMF support and the attendant programmes are to help stabilise the economy and correct fiscal and monetary imbalances that have caused the Ghana cedi to depreciate and the prices of goods and services to rise.
The staff-level agreement (SLA) for an extended credit facility (ECF) was announced yesterday at a press conference jointly addressed by the government side and the IMF Mission.
The deal makes it the first milestone that the country has achieved in the push to access financial and technical support from the Bretton Woods institution to reboot the economy.
However, the country will now have to show sufficient proof that it has instituted concrete measures to bring the debt to sustainable levels before the management and the Executive Board of the IMF can approve the deal for a tranched disbursement of the funds to commence.
In a statement announcing the SLA yesterday, the IMF Mission Chief to Ghana, Stéphane Roudet, said the preliminary approval would be presented to the IMF Management and Executive Board for final approval after Ghana had made significant and sufficient progress with efforts to restore debt sustainability.
The final IMF approval is also contingent upon receipt of the necessary financing assurances by Ghana’s partners and creditors.
Again, the country is required to execute measures to increase domestic resource mobilisation and streamline expenditure.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Ghana will continue to strengthen its economic corporation with Kenya by harnessing the potential of intra-African trade, the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Mark Okraku Mantey, has said.
“The African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA headquartered in Accra, provides yet another incentive to strengthen economic corporation, explore trade and investments opportunities, and contribute to Africa’s accelerated socio-economic growth,” he added.
Mr Mantey made these remarks when he joined the Kenyan High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Eliphas Barine and the Kenyan community in Ghana to commemorate its 59th Independence Anniversary in Accra on Monday.
According to the deputy minister, the bond of friendship and relationship between the two countries which dates back to the days of its first Presidents, Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta had evolved over the past couple of years.
The bond of friendship and relationship, Mr Mantey noted had been shaped by the common aspiration for democratic governance and it enduring ethos including respect for human rights, freedom of the press among others the two countries shared.
He further said that, he was hopeful the establishment of the Ghana-Kenya Business Council and the Bi-National Commission would enhance the trade and economic dimensions of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The two countries, Mr Mantey asserted, were making efforts to strengthen corporation in other areas including Defence cooperation.
Mr Mantey reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment in working with Kenya to further strengthen its corporation in all fields of endeavor both at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
Mr Barine in his remarks said African governments had worked hard to provide the needed enabling environment in transacting business which included the establishment of AfCFTA.
He therefore urged the industries in the private sector to take advantage and leverage on AfCFTA to improve their businesses with a much more focus on value addition.
“The governments of Africa have worked hard to provide the needed enabling environment to do business. It behooves the private sector and web to have the captains of industries present, the challenge to convert this in addition to the AfCFTA framework into meaningful trades,” Mr Barine said.
Kenyan businesses, Mr Barine indicated had already taken the lead in leveraging on the opportunities related to AfCFTA which include the arrival of a vast consignment of Kenyan value added tea and car batteries in Ghana.
The High Commissioner further pledged Kenyan support to strengthen the bond of friendship between the two countries while commending Ghana for its hospitality to the Kenyan Embassy since its establishment three years ago.
GIK/APA