African Union must build on success stories

African leaders have gathered in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, for the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU).

The two-day summit, which began yesterday and ends today, is on the theme:

“Silencing the guns: Creating conducive conditions for Africa’s development”.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is leading Ghana’s delegation to the meeting of Heads of State, which is expected to discuss wide-ranging issues, all geared at advancing peace, prosperity and human rights across the continent.

Headline issues to be deliberated upon during the summit include assessment of contributions to the AU’s budget, progress made in the implementation of Agenda 2063 and the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

“Silencing the Guns” initiative, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, urban realities and food security and nutrition in Africa, as well as climate change and sustainable development in the context of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda, will all play up strongly during the summit.

Undoubtedly, Agenda 2063 has become the blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future and it is the strategic framework for delivering on Africa’s goal for inclusive and sustainable development.

Africa currently lacks many development needs.

We are of the opinion that to accelerate the pace of Africa’s development, it’s important that the guns fall silent within the continent, while efforts are made to create conducive working conditions for the rapid development of Africa’s interest.

Globally, Africa has been described as the emerging continent full of promise, but before we take advantage of this promise, it’s necessary to find out what exactly we’re doing to ensure, for instance, that the teeming youth of Africa find sustainable jobs to do.

If we recall the saying:

“The devil finds work for idle hands,” then there’s the urgent need to quickly avoid this situation from becoming a reality by creating the needed jobs for them.

We further wish to recall the various regional meetings on specific subject areas or issues, as well as the establishment of various regional and continental bodies, and to state with pain that these meetings have, many a time or largely, become talking shops.

The Daily Graphic wishes to draw the attention of all to the resources spent on having these bodies in place and how much it costs to have such regional meetings.

There’s also the need to look at our food situation and remember that a hungry man is a hungry dog.

When people are hungry, they can do anything and they can be lured into doing anything, including harming others because they have no food, even though they are not justified.

It’s equally important to look at our health situation and our educational level and policies. It is a fact that education is key to development. We must, therefore, ensure that our governments’ educational policies cover more people.

We want to point out that if we are to transform our continent, then we need to move away from mere rhetoric to practical action and take a look at youth unemployment and adopt policies which seek to provide jobs and see how realistic they have been.

For us at the Daily Graphic, we want to build on African successes and advances, such as the AfCFTA agreement.

We need fair globalisation, so that Africa no longer suffers from unfair trading and financial rules, subsidies and other policies and market distortions that perpetuate inequality and make it harder for the continent to compete on an equal footing with others and prosper.

The Daily Graphic wishes to say that if we have to seriously transform the continent, then we do not have time for rhetoric.

It is time for action and the decisions we take at our various meetings should be implemented without fear or favour for us to achieve our developmental agenda and aspirations.