I-CAN-GHANA

Précis: The African Continental Free Trade Agreement presents a unique, historic opportunity for Africa’s middle class to lead the continent’s development, with or without borders.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Precolonial Africa did not have the modern day borders that divide us. Great nations such as Asante, Dahomey, Ghana, Mali and Songhai, became great powers on the back of their ability to trade freely with their neighbours. We belonged to different tribes and nations, with differences and war sometimes, but we were conscious of our common identity.

That is why colonialism could only succeed and thrive by dividing us through a European concept of borders. That is why between 1884 and 1885, the then European ‘powers’ met at a Conference in Berlin to divide Africa up in the most arbitrary of fashions and according to their preferences on where the most natural resources were. Indeed, some nations were carved out as the personal property of some European monarchs. 

It is worthy of note that in 1874, a full decade before the Berlin Conference that formally ‘balkanised’ Africa, Great Britain had declared the then Gold Coast a colony. That was three decades after signing the so-called Bond of 1844. Emboldened by the Berlin Conference, Britain deployed brute force to conquer Asante and then declare the ‘Northern Territories’ a ‘Protectorate.’ What did they see here then? What did they want from us? Gold? Cocoa? Timber? And earlier on, slaves?

Thus European powers unleashed on us several decades of the oppression and domination called “colonialism,” where we were subjected to some of the worst forms of human indignity as the ruled, and the colonialists had free rein over us and access to resources across the continent. They shipped these resources to their countries to enrich themselves at the expense of the people who owned those resources. 

Fact: the so-called European ‘democracies’ deployed the most undemocratic of means and governance systems to subjugate Africa and keep us under their rule.  Fact: several western economies today were built on the back of African resources. It was therefore all about resources. Thus when people speak of Africa’s “resource curse” maybe it is because the alleged curse began with the Europeans’ forcible seizure of those resources and benefitting from them while the true owners earned next to nothing. 

Indeed, within Europe itself the forcible carving out of the Balkans into artificial boundaries by European powers have exploded or resulted in the several wars including World War I and the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. The tensions are still there.

Africa does not need fratricidal Balkan-like wars to redefine itself as one people with one common destiny. God knows that Balkan-like wars have happened on almost a daily basis in post-colonial Africa, at huge cost to the continent and its people. While we fought, foreign powers raped us of our natural resources and got fat while derisorily calling us “the Dark Continent.” We can blame almost each of these ‘wars’ on the former colonial powers and their neo-colonial and continued imperialistic influence over the continent.

THE AFRICAN POTENTIAL

We may justifiably blame Europe. But six decades after Ghana led in the fight for independence, every excuse that we had and every blame that we may have heaped on the European powers have begun to wear thin. A divided Africa may still benefit the West but it is now our problem. An Africa that remains poor and yet still hugs and clings to the colonial boundaries and restricts the free movement of its people and trade, is Africa’s problem to resolve.

Together, we are 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP of almost $2 trillion. Even as divided as we are, this is a huge, unrealised potential. We have resources that cannot be quantified in monetary terms. We have a young and vibrant population. Literally, Africa has everything to be the most successful continent on earth. 

It is a shame that the colonial barriers have held us back for so long, even after the colonialist has presumably left. Something had to change. Something had to give. Something had to be be done. If we could not rid ourselves of all the barriers at once, could we begin to remove the barriers to trade, one after the other?

FROM ABUJA TO KIGALI

The Abuja Treaty, signed on 3rd June 1991 with the aim of establishing an African Economic Community as an integral part of the then Organization for African Unity, is generally considered the start of this journey to remove the barriers to trade in Africa. Together with its Protocol on Industry, the objective was to promote self-sustained industrialization, enhance regional and continental integration and expand trade in industrial products. It also aimed to achieve structural transformation of industry to foster the general, social and economic development of member States.

It is against this background that we must salute African leaders, led by our own venerable President John Evan Atta Mills for the vision and foresight that led to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area. The efforts culminated in the Decision of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government during the Eighteenth Ordinary Session of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 29th-30th January, 2012, which put in place the Framework, Road Map and Architecture for Fast Tracking the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade.

The next significant stage was the launch of negotiations for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area aimed at integrating Africa’s markets in line with the objectives and principles enunciated in the Abuja Treaty during the Twenty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 14th – 15th June 2015.

Even with changes in government, Ghana appears to have devoted considerable time, unquantifiable energy and significant effort to pursuing the vision of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Africa prevailed. Finally, in March 2018, the African Union unveiled the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in Kigali, Rwanda. 

Africa is now at the implementation phase, and once implemented, the continent will become the world’s largest free trade area. Yes, 55 countries that will merge into a single market, 1.2 billion people, combined GDP of $2.5 trillion.

Devoted and sold to this vision, Ghana worked hard and successfully fought off friendly and healthy competition from other equally competent African nations, to be selected as the host and seat of the headquarters to the Area. The beacon that will shine forth to proclaim the new reality of Africa, beams bright right from Accra into every nook and cranny of the continent and every corner of the world.

These are exciting times. The future and prospects look bright. But are we ready? Ghana would not be worth the seat of the headquarters if all we did was to host it and nothing more.

AFRICA’S MIDDLE CLASS

It is time for Africa’s middle class, Ghana’s middle class has to rise up, take this bull by the horn and drive this vision forward. For years, Africa’s middle class has looked inward only to itself. Africa’s middle class has resolved the majority of African’s financial problems for themselves and their families and dependents. But growth and expansion of the middle class has been restricted because no matter how hard they try and work, they still live in environments that do not allow the desired growth and expansion of that class, both in quality and in quantity. Without that happening, the majority of us remain poor and the few rich grow richer.

Africa’s middle class must take advantage of the AfCFTA and lead Africa’s combined Commercial and Industrial Revolution. Europe had five centuries of a Commercial Revolution, from about the 13th Century, and which was the basis for the Industrial Revolution which started in the mid-18th Century. The Commercial Revolution started with the middle class beginning to explore doing business, no more as individuals, but as a “company” of people.

For instance, in England, from about the 13th Century the merchant class was struggling to break away from feudalism. Local merchants formed “merchant guilds,” exclusive societies of traders who were trading together and by their combined power and means, gaining the ability to produce and sell more than they would have done as individual business persons. 

With this growth, business began to break the bounds of the localities and boroughs from which they operated. Their trades began to expand beyond their immediate localities and the hitherto borough-defined merchant guild began to seek and acquire interest beyond their geographical regions. With advances in maritime technology came trading opportunities in the New World. 

Over time, the merchant guilds evolved into charter corporations, and the principles of mercantilism became entrenched. Banks and bourses and futures markets were created.

Additionally, the desire for commodities that were rare in Europe led to discovery voyages and new trade routes that took them to America, and also brought them to Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope and to India and China as an alternative to a land route over Europe and Asia.

THE AfCFTA REVOLUTION

It is five centuries of the middle-class led Commercial Revolution that set the stage for the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Africa needs its own Commercial Revolution, where its traders freely trade with, between and among themselves across our borders without let or hindrance. But we cannot afford five centuries of a Commercial Revolution before an Industrial Revolution. We do not have the time for that. We need a combined Commercial and Industrial Revolution.

That is the opportunity that the AfCFTA presents. A Free Trade system, which is simply a system by which African traders can land, store, handle, manufacture and re-export goods, and not be generally subject to customs duty and other restrictions is a no-brainer. That is what the Agreement seeks to address, covering trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.

Generally, the Agreement will create a single and liberalised market for goods and services, facilitated by movement of persons. It will contribute to the movement of capital and persons and facilitate investments. It will lay the foundation for the establishment of a Continental Customs Union. 

It will promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality and structural transformation. It will enhance the competitiveness of our economies. It will promote industrial development through diversification and regional value chain development, agricultural development and food security.

Specifically, African countries will progressively eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods, and also liberalise trade in services. African nations will cooperate on investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy, on all trade-related areas, on customs matters and on the implementation of trade facilitation measures. State parties will also, and very importantly, establish a mechanism for the settlement of disputes arising from this important development.

We will be entitled to Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment within each other’s countries. At the very least, we shall accord each other, on a reciprocal basis, preferences that are no less favourable than those given to Third Parties.

THE REALITY

What has to be provided on paper has been provided in the Agreement and its Protocols. The reality will now depend on our willingness, desire and zeal to explore and exploit the opportunities that the Agreement creates. It is time for the Ghanaian business person to think beyond our cities, towns, villages and borders. It is time for Ghanaian businesses to explore opportunities in West Africa and the entire continent.  It is said that “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” No single person can cover this continent alone. It is time to start exploring enduring business relationships with like-minded people both within and outside Ghana.

There is only so much that we can do as individuals. We need to combine and work together in partnerships and build large companies to produce goods and offer services that have a greater effect than the sum of our separate individual efforts. 

That is what synergy is all about. We must look forward to the day when Ghanaian-led multinational companies will spread their businesses and brands throughout Africa. Think about the prospects: 1.2 billion people. Each of them needs to live, work, eat and sleep. Each stage of living, working, eating and sleeping requires the provision of goods and services that the Ghanaian business person is capable of providing and in great quantity and quality. 

Can we dream of the Ghanaian-led businesses that will build sufficient financial muscle across the continent and venture into Asia, Europe and the Americas, spreading that brand and quality that is uniquely Ghanaian?

We must recognise and harness the boundless energy of the Ghanaian – that innate quality that led and drove us to demand independence before everyone else, that has kept and bound us together through thick and think in all of these years before and after independence. It is time to channel that energy into strategic businesses that can take full advantage of the AfCFTA and bring success and development to ourselves and our continent.

Government must, for its part, do all within its power to facilitate the achievement of these lofty, yet achievable, objects and aims. The private sector, led by the middle class, must take the lead and become the transforming agent while the state remains the catalyst for this great opportunity.

It is really THAT simple. 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

On 1st September 1993, the Financial Times wrote this about Africa:

“From Africa must come a new generation of leaders, COMMITTED to reform, and TAPPING the same spirit that brought freedom 30 years ago. ANGERED by the failures of the corrupt and autocratic leaders, FRUSTRATED by economic policies that did not deliver, IMPATIENT to recover their lost civil rights, and WORN OUT by wars, Africa’s people are striving for a FRESH START.”

The famous Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore chose this quotation as his concluding words in his address at the Conference on the Relevance of Singapore’s Experience for Africa, held in Singapore on 8-10 November 1993. We must endorse these words. Africa’s people are still striving for a fresh start.

At the formation and foundation of Ghana, our forefathers and foremothers dreamed of a country and a people that would punch above our weight and be world beaters. They laid a foundation and a landmark of excellence and a people with the knowledge and skill to take the world on. They selected the name “Ghana,” believing and having the faith that we would become a nation of warrior kings. 

They chose a national anthem that proclaims a “great and strong” nation that resists the rule of oppressors. They selected a flag that speaks to the blood that was shed at the foundations of the nation, and the riches, purity and freshness of our land. It included the famous and unique black star that speaks for and to every person of African or black decent as luminaries that will shine forth both at day and at night, wherever we find ourselves on God’s earth. 

They also chose eagles to bear our coat of arms because they saw in us a people that would defy all odds and soar at heights that no other could, and with a vision that both reached back to our foundations and looked forward to a bright future. These add up to become the landmark to which we must aspire all the time.

It is time to ignite that Sankofa spirit, to reach back to that old landmark and in the words of the old spiritual, “make a new commitment and begin a fresh start.” We need to find our direction into new horizons of trade, business, commerce and industry. The opportunity presented by the AfCFTA is that fresh start. 

Let the middle class rise up and lead to make a new commitment, find direction to make this the fresh start that Africa has been waiting for.

Ghana’s black lodestar must shine, not only through leading independence and in sports, but now in business, commerce and industry.

The question has been “can Africa…?” With AfCFTA, the answer must be… scratch that… the answer is “African can…!”

Speech Delivered at the 2014 Graduation of the American International School, Moevenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra on 5th June 2014

Madam Senior Administrator, The Principals, Teachers and Staff of the American International School, Parents and Guardians, Graduands, Students, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I do not remember anything that any Guest Speaker said at any of my graduations. And so, graduands, I will not hold it against you if you don’t remember anything that I will say today. But it is a privilege to have been invited to be the Guest Speaker at this august graduation event, and I am grateful to the American International School for this honour.

My topic for the graduating class, today, is “TIMES CHANGE, AND TIME CHANGES.”

TIME is that indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. CHANGE is said to occur when the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of something/one thing becomes different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.

In 1986, when I graduated from Secondary School, we had no mobile phones. Indeed telephones were not that common and I do not recall having a telephone conversation from school, with my parents at any time during the 7 years that I spent at Mfantsipim. There was no email, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, Google or Yahoo search. If you needed anything from home while in boarding school, you wrote letters to your parents, which took about 2 weeks to move between Cape Coast and Accra. Thus by the time your parents read that you were unwell (and it was mostly from malaria), you would have recovered already. If you wrote a love letter to a girl in the nearby girls’ schools, you would either post it (and that would take a week or so to arrive, by which time all your words would have become stale) or hand-deliver it yourself to her when you visited on Saturday or Sunday. If you were as shy as I was, you would ask her not to read it until you had left!!

But what happened? TIME went past and in the course of that TIME, CHANGE happened. I am no longer that skinny, gangly, bright-eyed boy who wanted so badly to become a lawyer. Today, I am a lawyer – I have achieved that dream and attained that vision. Today, I have children of my own, 3 of them, one of whom is about enter her sophomore year in college, this fall. I have grey hair. TIMES CHANGED, and the TIME CHANGED me. The world around me changed. I had to CHANGE to meet and suit the CHANGING TIMES. I would be an irrelevant, fossilized dinosaur, the object and subject of interest of archaeologists, extinct, but awaiting the magic of a Jurassic Park resuscitation, if I remained stuck in the world of 1986, when we are in 2014. There are many human dinosaurs around. Don’t become one.

Yours today, is a fast moving digital age. It is often said that CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT. That change can be frightening and daunting if we do not recognise that each passing second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, etc provides us with an opportunity. Thus, the CHALLENGE OF CHANGE, is at the same time, and in and of itself the OPPORTUNITY OF CHANGE. It is important to see those opportunities and take advantage of the new possibilities they bring.

Today, each Graduand is witnessing a change. When we leave this room, you will not be a high school student anymore. You will be a high school graduate. What has changed? Just your designation or description? I think not. You whole life has changed. You are at the cusp, the edge of a new beginning, a new journey, where there is no end or destination until you die. The journey of life, is itself the destination. You only fail when you stop undertaking the journey.

And so tonight, you must celebrate the fact that one season is past, and another season is born. So party, dance, rejoice. But as you celebrate the end of one stage of your life, you mark the beginning of another stage of the same life. When you leave this room, when you wake up tomorrow morning, it will be the beginning of the rest of your life. CHANGE has happened. CHANGE is happening. Are you ready for it?

Allow me to suggest 7 things that you need to do, if you are going to remain relevant in this fast-changing world. And I will borrow substantively from the thoughts of Kathryn D. Leary, writer, marketing and public relations consultant and former President & CEO of the Leary Group Inc.

1. TAKE STOCK. Spend some time thinking about your life to date. Search your soul. Make an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, joys and disappointments, mistakes and successes. What have your brought to the world and what else would you like to do, accomplish or experience? Stay open to all possibilities and allow time to really ponder about yourself.

2. IDENTIFY POSSIBLE GOALS & OPTIONS. Once you have taken stock, start identifying new interests and possible goals for the next phase of your life. Your life from childhood to date definitely has a store or wealth of assets, from your experiences and the skills and learning that you have acquired along the way. Don’t be stuck in a groove. Think outside the box. How are you going to use these assets to create satisfying and enriching life?

3. ASSESS YOUR OPTIONS. When you have identified you new goals and options, begin your research to explore the viability of each option. The Internet, which hitherto has been your means of pointless chatter and endless gossip, and visiting of websites that you cannot admit you have visited, should become a new tool, a source of information on your areas of interest. What is the current climate for pursuing these goals? It is at this stage that you must identify and talk with people who are doing what you are interested in pursuing so that you can assess if this is something you would really enjoy doing. Learn as much about your options as possible and evaluate whether your skills and temperament are suitable. How viable are the options? Will they make your money? Would they make you creative, or give you freedom?

4. COMMIT TO YOUR GOAL AND GET TO WORK ON YOUR GAME PLAN. After the assessment, choose the goal you desire most and claim it mentally. Affirm your ability to make it happen, based on your commitment, intelligence, wealth of experience and skills. Create a roadmap of what you need to do to pursue this particular goal. What is competitive environment for the dream job, business or new life direction? What are the strengths and weaknesses for this goal? What are you going to do to shore up your identified weaknesses? Special training or courses? Reading books and online research? Be sure to know what you don’t know, then go learn it. Discover everything there is to discover as you get ready to execute your plan.

5. BUILD YOUR CREDENTIALS. When you have completed the commitment and working-on-game-plan phase, it is time to get to work. It is school time all over again. Take the courses you have identified, to attain and improve your arsenal of credentials. This is the time that you build your CV, through HARD WORK. Your CV should not be a mere collection of words and alphabets, but a testimony of your hard work. Use your vacation times to intern or volunteer in the field to gain experience. These will give you opportunities to experiment with your new direction, develop your craft and gain exposure.

6. BRAND YOUR NEW SELF. In the course of all of this, you must seek to become unique. There are millions of artists, musicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, computer scientists etc. What would you be bringing that would make a mark or dent in this world? Identify what is distinctive about yourself and the unique approach you will bring to the field you have chosen. Use this information to create your identity or brand yourself. Work hard for distinctions because they will count in your branding. Don’t just pass exams. Pass with distinction. Create a personal slogan or tagline that captures your uniqueness and use it everywhere. In my senior year, mine was “failure has no breeding grounds where hard work, discipline and dedication lie.”

7. LET THE WORLD KNOW YOU’VE ARRIVED! At every stage when you have achieved something (e.g. a graduation) you must make a statement. Use every opportunity you can to create a message about the new you. Be creative, be daring and be heard!

My law firm is proud to have been associated with the founding and growth of this school in Ghana, and glad to have seen what was then, but a dream, at the beginning, bear fruit and continue to bear fruit. The best testimony of the greatness of that dream and vision, is and will be the quality of the students that it produces and the effect and impact that they in turn have on society.

As I come to a close, permit me to share with you, my personal mantra: “If others sit, stand. If other stand, stand out. If others stand out, be outstanding. And when others are outstanding, be the standard.”

Yours is a Christian mission school. Some, including your parents, have paid a price and made sacrifices to ensure that you are where you are today. You must respect that. I also cannot end this speech without referring to the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Source and Finish, best captured on an occasion as this in the words of the hymnists Nicholas Brady and Nahum Tate as follows:

“Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.

Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then
Have nothing else to fear;
Make you His service your delight,
Your wants shall be His care.”

But I would also leave you with the endearing words of the late music legend, Michael Jackson, who famously sang:

“I’m Starting With The Man [and Woman] In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change His [and Her] Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change”

Dear Graduands, I salute and congratulate you on a successful completion of your course of study. Go out and be that change that you want to see.

Thank you, and God bless you.