Major-General Kahinda Otafiire, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the Ugandan Cabinet on Saturday called on African leaders to draw a timetable towards the achievement of continental unity.
He said the feat of African unity would remain a dream if African leaders failed to make conscious effort to draw planned specific schedule aimed at bringing together Africans to effect significant social and economic transformation.
Major-General Otafiire made the call at a ceremony organised by the Socialist Forum of Ghana to mark 104th birthday celebration of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
He called on leaders to pool resources together and dismantle artificial borders separating Africans as part of commitment towards working to the attainment of Dr Nkrumah’s vision of uniting the people of Africa.
He urged leaders to rewrite the philosophy of African democracy realistic to the needs of the people and far from the current “western-style” democracy that seek to create periodic competition for the elites.
The hallmark of realistic democracy was to promote economic and social fairness, eschewed individual interest and pushed for national concern as well as enhanced a kind of leadership with the “capacity to solve contradictions”, he said.
He said the real enemy was among Africans themselves collaborating with self-seeking leaders to perpetuate poverty, sickness and ignorance, which called for conscious effort for the people to come together in order tackle.
Major-General Otafiire noted that there could not be any sovereignty in poverty and asked Africans to marshal resources to create economic might to stand against western force of imposing ideas on Africa.
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