MADRID, Dec. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, has called on African countries to stop “begging” the West and has stressed that in this way they will achieve “the respect” they deserve, within the framework of the United States-Africa summit in Washington.
“If we stop begging and spend African money within the continent, Africa will not have to ask anyone for respect, we will get the respect we deserve. If we achieve prosperity, respect will come later,” the president said.
Thus, he has asked the leaders of African countries for unity to make the continent move forward and has stated that “Africans are more resilient outside the continent than within it”. “We must bear in mind that to the outside world, there is no Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are Africans. Our destiny as a people depends on each one of us,” she argued.
Akufo-Addo has opted to “work to change the African narrative, characterized by a concentration of disease, hunger, poverty and illegal migration.” “We must make Africa a place of investment, progress and prosperity”, she has defended.
“We know what needs to be done. It is time to do it. We have run out of excuses,” said the president during his speech at the closing of the Plenary of Young Leaders of Africa and the Diaspora, before adding that “it is time to achieve make Africa work”.
The speech came just a few hours after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced an agreement in principle for a financial rescue program for Ghana worth about 3,000 million dollars (around 2,815 million euros) with the aim of “restore macroeconomic stability” and “debt sustainability” of the African country.
Ghana has suffered in recent months from the collapse of the local currency, the cedi, which lost nearly half its value during 2022, amid inflation that has reached 40 percent and has caused a serious economic crisis. deepened by the coronavirus pandemic and the increase in the prices of basic products and energy due to the war in Ukraine.
