FLASHBACK: Stop begging to earn global respect - Akufo-Addo to African countries

On December 14, 2022, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo entreated African countries to stop begging from the West to earn global respect.

According to him, “If we stop being beggars and spend African money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve. If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow.”

President Akufo-Addo said this while delivering a speech at the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC.

Read the full story originally published on December 14, 2022 by www.ghanaweb.com.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on African countries to absorb themselves from begging from the West to earn global respect and move away from old-aged perceptions of the continent.

Delivering remarks at the ongoing US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC, President Akufo-Addo extolled Africa’s skills and manpower which he believes can bring significant change when well harnessed.

“If we stop being beggars and spend African money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve. If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow,” President Akufo-Addo is quoted by BBC.com.

“Africans are more resilient outside the continent than inside. We must bear in mind that to the outside world, [there’s] nothing like Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are simply Africans. Our destiny as people depends on each other,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo’s remarks come after Ghana on December 13, 2022, secured a Staff-Level Agreement with the International Monetary Fund for US$3 billion under an Extended Credit Facility (ECF).