Rawlings: Africa must no longer tolerate audacity of the West

Former President Jerry Rawlings has urged African leaders not to continue to tolerate the “audacity of the West” as far as decisions concerning the African continent are concerned.

According to him, recent comments by the French President Francois Hollande questioning the election of the 91-year-old Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe as Chairman of the African Union is unacceptable.

“Recently, you have somebody like Hollande commenting on the election of Mugabe as AU chairman and asking questions.

“That audacity from the West must stop and they must not be tolerated.

“Somebody like Mugabe has a history to the African continent and they don’t know,” Mr Rawlings said this when the former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano paid a courtesy call on him at his residence in Accra Monday.

The former military leader also called for a continental policy and guidelines that will direct African heads of state to make effective decisions.

On the Nigerian elections, the ex-president said he hopes President-elect General Buhari will take the bull by the horn and “face the corruption canker in his country with all seriousness”.