Prof Sawyer delivering his speech at the ceremony
Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Akilakpa Sawyer, has warned government not to encourage the establishment of more plants in Ghana by foreign companies.
According to him, the absence of clearly spelt out guidelines on goods and services to be traded by African states would allow such foreign plants to dominate the African market, adding that they may take undue advantage of existing frameworks aimed at indigenisation.
“An example of such frameworks is the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement, which seeks to create a single continental market for goods and services with free movement of business persons and investments.
“You are creating a core market for what? Unless you examine your production processes and things which you trade in, there is nothing like free trade. What we may get is that those who are controlling us will be relocating production plant to a country and using the free trade mechanism for trade,” he added.
Prof Sawyer, who was speaking at the closing ceremony of the All-African Peoples Conference (AAPC) over the weekend, emphasised the importance of theory in analysing and prescribing the right solutions to Africa’s problems of neo-colonialism and imperialism.
“People make a choice. Some of them are unaware of the choice they are making but they still make a choice. Lack of understanding of the neo-colonial state leads to making a prescription for something which is contrary to what you want to achieve,” he said.
A Professor of African-American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University, Prof Horace Campbell, said that the liberation call, which no longer has to do with arms, must be in favour of the masses of a country.
“You cannot make liberation call at a continental level while people in your country are suppressed,” he added.
He called for unity in Africa to address global warming and other challenges.
By Issah Mohammed