The Chairperson of the Convention
People’s Party, Ms Samia Nkrumah, has called on Italy to have the
courage to invest more in Africa.
Samia
Nkurmah interacting with Mr Giorgio Napolitano, President of the
Republic of Italy, and Hon. Emma Bonino, Italian Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
As we speak, there is no Italian
bank in sub-Saharan Africa with a strategy of opening up to markets of
Africa, she told a gathering in Rome, the Italian capital. The occasion
was to mark the city of Rome’s version of African Union Day. Under the
theme, OAU/AU @50 in Rome, it was attended by Mr Giorgio Napolitano,
President of the Republic of Italy; Hon. Emma Bonino, Italian Minister
of Foreign Affairs; the African Diplomatic Corps in Italy and ministers
of state including Hon. Cecile Kyenge, Minister of Integration and first
minister in Italy of African origin.
According to Ms Nkrumah,
“In Ghana, for example, in the last three years, the economy grew by an
average of eight per cent. The USA, UK, China and Turkey have doubled
their investments in Ghana.
I have no doubt it is the same for
many other African countries. I am using this occasion to urge Italian
Industrialists and bankers to be courageous and 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,
co-operation and self-reliance. We want to see in Africa many more men
and women such as Enrico Mattei”.
These were contained in a statement issued in Accra yesterday and signed by Nii Armah Akomfrah, CPP Director of Communication.
According
to the statement, Samia Yaba Nkrumah was in Addis Ababa to mark the
historic 50th Anniversary of the OAU/AU, then moved on to Italy where
the city of Rome also marked the anniversary with its own event.
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 50 years ago,
independent African countries came together to consolidate their newly
won freedom by committing themselves to think together, work together
and organise African economies as one unit.
The CPP leader noted
that “Our colonisation came with our division, so it is only logical
that our freedom comes with our unification”.
Ms Nkrumah told the
gathering that the journey towards continental integration had not been
smooth, saying “That there have been some achievements along the way
such as de-colonisation and ending settler regimes and apartheid, but
that there has also been some rough patches as well.”
She said
“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, Africa had 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 recognised 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 as 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 “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, well-being 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 well-being 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, potable water, adequate sanitation, confidence in our rich
cultural heritage, then we will be able to strengthen our institutions
such as Parliament, anti-corruption institutions and the like that deal
with governance, citizens’ rights and public welfare. We will be better
to fight corruption and consolidate our democracy and realise 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. In the 60s, 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 the well-being for our citizens”.
http://graphic.com.gh/Politics/samia-urges-italy-to-invest-more-in-africa.html
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