Kwame Danquah
African governments have been urged to enact more robust policies aimed at harnessing the resources of the African continent to enhance trade among member states.
President of the International Secretariat of Harakati za Muungano, a non-profit organisation dedicated to African union, integration and policy reforms, Kwame Danquah, made the call at a conference held in Accra.
He said such policies would serve as an integrated pathway towards shielding the continent’s vulnerabilities of global economic fluctuations and disruptions.
According to him, the African continent is endowed with boundless resources and accounts for 17% of the world’s population, constituting a dynamic labour force and a large market to propel speedy development.
He said a large percentage of the world’s minerals such as gold, chromium, platinum, largest reserves of world’s cobalt diamonds, and uranium are in arable African lands.
Mr. Danquah said despite all these resources, Africa’s share of global trade remains a paltry 3% while intra-African trade stands at 15% compared to Europe, Asia and Europe.
He, therefore, called on African governments to collapse physical colonial barriers, eliminate trade barriers and enact policy reforms that integrate and unite the sub-region.
He said, “We yearn for a deep integration that transforms customs union, a common market, an economic union to a political union in the sub-region which will see member states exhibit the characteristics of an economic union in addition to harmonising member states foreign and defence policies under a common union policy.”
He mentioned that a larger market will attract investment, both foreign and local, which will employ factors of economies of scale that leads to expanded production, job creation and economic diversification.
He further indicated that Africans have been left behind by the rest of the world as a result of dwindling economic activity and, therefore, called for a concerted effort by African leaders to increase local production.
“Sub-saharan Africa has boundless opportunities and possibilities if we unite at the sub-regional group or more importantly as a single formidable entity,” he added.
Present at the conference were members of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Students Representative Council of Accra Technical University among several other dignitaries from the diaspora.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah