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…!”

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