Address by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana
General Assembly Seventy-first session 10th plenary meeting
General Debate
Anny Osabutey, The Christian Journal.
New York—Ghana’s President John Mahama has called on developed nations to be fair in their trade dealings with Africa. Speaking at the 71st General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, Mr Mahama, who was nicely dressed in a traditional local outfit,fugu,said Africa does not the “sympathy” of the west when it comes to trade, but fairness.
“Africa does not need your sympathy or Overseas Development Assistance. Africa needs a fair chance to trade with the rest of the world and amongst ourselves. The progress towards the creation of a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) is commendable and must be fast tracked.”
This year’s summit is discussing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and each of them will be achieved. He says the existing trade inequality between Africa and their counterparts in the western economies is something that needs critical assessment and attention.
“We can achieve a lot in collaboration with the rest of the world and yet we must realize that a lot rests within our own capacity to achieve as Africans. Recently I took the decision to allow citizens of other African countries travelling to Ghana to obtain visas on arrival. This would stimulate trade and investment if it were replicated across the continent.
One of the critical components of the summit is the call for more investments in the youths. A sideline meeting held between the World Bank and African leaders projected there’s a growing data on Africa’s youth under 30, and more investment is needed to tap their potential. UNFPA’s Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin told the leaders: “ We have estimates that show that if we do this, and we do it right, we can actually add to the GDP of Africa – $500 billion every year for 30 years.” He described the potential as “mind-blowing.”
The growing unemployment rates in the continent and the desperation for most young people to seek better lives for themselves has forced most of them to seek alternative routes to a better life, mostly travelling to Europe through the dangerous Mediterranean sea with the aim of sharing in Europe’s continues dwindling wealth.
President Mahama touched on the problem in his speech. He gave the examples of some Ghanaian youths who after many years of desperation in trying to find work, made the journey to Europe through Libya. But the trip was to be an ill-fated one for some of them.
“Two members of their group do not make it. After months of living under the threat of death from any of the armed groups including ISIS in Libya, they finally board an overloaded dinghy bound for Italy,” he narrated, adding: “Rescued from the sea after their dinghy capsized, only one of them remains, held in a refugee detention centre in Italy. He is the lucky one. The only one of five friends to survive the perilous journey. How long he will remain in the centre, he does not know. This could be the story of any young African seeking a better life in Europe.”
