President Akufo-Addo shaking hands with Alamine Ousm ane Mey (2nd right), African Caucus First Vice Chairman while Taher Jehaimi looks on. Picture by Gifty Ama Lawson
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday wowed guests at the ongoing 2019 African Caucus Meeting (ACM) of Finance Ministers and Governors of various Central Banks when he said foreign aid cannot develop the African continent.
During the opening ceremony in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said, “Since assuming office in Ghana two and a half years ago, I’ve been advocating and working for a ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ because nobody needs to spell it out to us that the economic transformation we desire will not come through aid.”
“We have been on that trajectory and it has not happened; we are told there is aid fatigue. Even if there was no aid fatigue and we’re the best in the world … there will never be enough aid to develop Ghana, let alone Africa to the level we want. The tax payers of the aid givers have a right to decide how their tax money is spent,” he added.
The two-day conference, which is under the theme: “Africa Beyond Aid; enhancing institutional capacity and innovative finance for sustainable growth”, is expected to strengthen the voice of African Governors with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other Bretton Woods Institutions on development issues of particular interest to Africa.
President Akufo-Addo, therefore, charged the various Finance Ministers and Governors of Central Banks to chart a path that would lead to progress and prosperity and the need to follow the broad roadmap set out by the Africa Union (AU) in its Agenda 2063, which is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future.
He stressed the need for Africa to exploit the immense resources “to provide a dignified, decent standard of living for the mass of her people.”
“This is a rationale for the recent strategic partnership we have forged under my leadership with our neighbour, Cote d’ Ivoire under the leadership of Alassane Quattara to defend the collective interest of our cocoa farmers and collaborate in the development of our economies,” he stated.
“We have to harness effectively our own resources and deploy them creatively and efficiently for rapid economic and social transformation…we need a lot of resources to generate the prosperity we want in Africa,” he stressed.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent