In 1963 Kwame Nkrumah spearheaded the battle for African unity. 50 years on his daughter and Chair of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) – the party Nkrumah founded – has picked up the baton and is positioning the CPP once again at the forefront of the drive for continental unity.
Hon Samia Yaba Nkrumah was in Addis Ababa to mark the historic 50thAnniversary, then moving on to Italy where the city of Rome was marking the anniversary with its own event - OAU/AU @50 in Rome. In attendance were Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Republic of Italy, Hon. Emma Bonino, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the African Diplomatic Corp in Italy and Ministers of State including Hon. Cecile Kyenge, Minister of Integration and first minister in Italy of African origin.
The CPP Chair and Leader in her address expressed deep gratitude and thanked President Napolitano for his visit to Ghana in 2007, his first official trip a few weeks after his election as president.
She also thanked Foreign Minister Emma Bonino who she called an activist and an Italian Rosa Parks. “ For years Emma has sought to make the West and Africans alike understand that there is no Africa tomorrow without human rights for her women today” she said.
She reminded her audience that fifty years ago, independent African countries came together to consolidate their newly won freedom by committing themselves to think together, work together and organize African economies as one unit.
That our founding fathers and mothers envisaged an Africa united politically with its economies interlinked to improve the lives of our people.
The CPP Leader noted that “Our colonization came with our division, so it is only logical that our freedom comes with our unification”.
Ms Nkrumah told the conference that the journey towards continental integration has not been smooth. That there have been some achievements along the way such as de-colonization and ending settler regimes and apartheid, but that there has also been some rough patches “We hesitated between regionalism and continental planning. We argued over the fast-track or gradualist approach to integration: A United States of Africa including political and continental planning as a necessary basis for economic and social integration, or economic associations anchored on a gradualist approach to integration”
She added that notwithstanding the setbacks we have managed to generate some excellent proposals – “the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action, with its vision of an integrated African Market by 2000 (sadly we never got there), the Abuja Treaty which envisaged an African Economic Community by 2028 (too far away) and the establishment of an African Economic and Monetary Union by 2023 to 2028 and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.* *We have also recognized the African Diaspora as the sixth region of the continent but we are hoping to make this relationship legally binding by a constitutive act. We want to see every single African outside the continent be part of the economic and social transformation of our continent”
The CPP Chair went on to say that “notwithstanding the rebranding of our continental body in 2002 into the African Union (AU) of today, if we want to be honest with ourselves we will have to admit that efforts at regional integration have not yet borne satisfactory results”.
“Today, I am revisiting our original vision for African Unity, that vision of an integrated continental planning that transcends the limitations of tinkering "with inter-territorial associations within customs union, trade agreements, inter-communications services and the like", quoting her father thus - "for such tinkering does not create the decisive conditions for resolute development, since it ignores the crucial requirement of continental integration as the essential prerequisite for the most bountiful economic progress, which must be based in the widest possible extension of land and population".
Samia Nkrumah continued by saying that “Imagine an Africa in which our leaders are prepared to seriously consider ceding some powers to a supra-national body showing real commitment to the development, wellbeing and prosperity of our citizens.
Imagine an Africa, confident and assertive, a continent free from food insecurity, rather than one that imports one-third of its grain. We want an Africa that is making use of the economies of scale, with bigger markets more attractive to investors both local and international, a continent whose people have high purchasing power to strengthen local economies and absorb the manufactured goods of other continents. Developed countries should have a vested interest in Africa's prosperity and the wellbeing of Africa because only with bigger markets and wealthier people can Africa absorb your goods. Only then will our continent bring opportunities for Europe in times of crisis.
Once the average citizen of Africa can enjoy the freedom that comes with prosperity such as access to quality education, basic healthcare, portable water, adequate sanitation, confidence in our rich cultural heritage, then we will be able to strengthen our institutions like Parliament, anti-corruption institutions and the like that deal with governance, citizens’ rights and public welfare. We will be better able to fight corruption and consolidate our democracy and realize social transformation.
Our prosperity is in unity and control of our resources for the benefit of our citizens. We do not want the billions we receive from the West through aid to be wasted through weak institutions but we want them to benefit the millions of young Africans who want, and have every right, to achieve something of significance.
I can assure you that the average African, who is by the way a young person, is suffering from this unequal relationship with other continents. The average African pays the price when we produce only basic raw materials and when the more we produce the less we earn. In the sixties a ton of cocoa could purchase a small car, today you need at least 10 tons of cocoa to get the same car. We must add value to what we produce so we can earn more and translate that greater revenue into wellbeing for our citizens”.
Samia Nkrumah concluded saying that Italy, “this dear nation that is hosting this special gathering” must have the courage to invest more in Africa. “In Ghana, for example, in the last three years the economy grew by an average of 8 per cent. The USA, UK, China and Turkey have doubled their investments in Ghana, I have no doubt it is the same for several other African countries. As we speak, there is no Italian Bank in sub-Saharan Africa with a strategy of opening up to markets of Africa. I am using this occasion to urge Italian Industrialists and bankers to be courageous, to be innovative. Show the same courage of your visionary industrialist, Enrico Mattei, who in the 60s helped us build our infrastructure and gave opportunities to so many ordinary men and women who started a new history of development, cooperation and self-reliance. We want to see in Africa many more men and women like Enrico Mattei”
She presented an Italian version of Africa Must Unite to President Napolitano.
Long live the African Nation that must be!
Long live a strong Europe and a strong Africa!
Long live the spirit of friendship and cooperation between Europe and Africa!
*Nii Armah Akomfrah *
CPP Director of Communication
*www.conventionpeoplesparty.org*
