TICAD 9: The urgent need for new African deal
The 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Yokohama has provided a crucial platform for dialogue, not just a partnership with Japan but the very future of the African continent.
The poignant warning by President John Dramani Mahama that Africa’s youth bulge is a “ticking time bomb” without rapid job creation is a clarion call that must be heeded by every leader on the continent.
His analysis is not alarmist; it is a stark and accurate diagnosis of our greatest challenge and our greatest opportunity.
As President Mahama correctly argued, the traditional engines of our economy, agriculture and manufacturing, are simply incapable of absorbing the 12 to 15 million young Africans entering the job market each year.
The path forward lies in the dynamic, knowledge-driven sectors where our youth are already leading: the creative industries, renewable energy, and most notably, the fintech and digital startup space.
These sectors, as evidenced by the billions of dollars invested in African startups last year, are not a sideshow; they are the mainstay of our future economy, creating jobs at a rate four times faster than the traditional sectors.
However, recognising this potential is only half the battle. The other half, as President Mahama elaborated, required a fundamental reorientation of governance. The state must transition from being a regulator that stifles with “overregulation” to an architect that “creates the framework for an enabling environment.”
The success stories of Ghana’s internet cafe liberalisation and the revolutionary agri-tech platforms prove that when government gets out of the way and provides the right fuel, the private sector engine roars to life.
This is where Japan’s role and the significance of TICAD 9 become profoundly relevant.
Japan, with its TICAD process that emphasises mutual respect, ownership, and “strong international partnerships,” is poised to capture this space through quality investment, technology transfer, and, most importantly, a partnership model that aligns perfectly with the needs articulated by President Mahama.
Japan’s history, a phoenix’s rise from post-war ashes to a technological and economic powerhouse built on innovation, quality, and strategic public-private collaboration, offers a blueprint Africa would be wise to study.
The enabling environment that attracts quality investment, like that of Japan, is built on a bedrock of macroeconomic stability.
Responsible borrowing, prudent public expenditure, and a focus on productivity over consumption are non-negotiable.
We must break the cycle of debt that cripples our future options and demonstrate to the world that Ghana is a serious and trustworthy destination for capital, where investments are safeguarded by sound economic management rather than eroded by inflation and instability.
Similarly, the fight against corruption must be elevated from rhetoric to relentless action.
Corruption is the single greatest drain on our national resources and the biggest deterrent to the transformative partnerships we seek.
In our engagement with all partners, we must aim at protecting long-term interests, particularly regarding our natural resources.
The era of exporting raw materials only to import finished goods at exorbitant prices must definitively end.
We must leverage partnerships for technology transfer and value addition within our borders.
Therefore, our engagement at fora such as TICAD must move beyond mere attendance.
We must enter these dialogues with a clear agenda, born from our internal conversations.
We must seek partners, not patrons.
We must leverage Japan’s expertise to build the enabling environments for our youth to thrive, investing in digital infrastructure, simplifying regulation for startups, and fostering skills development for the knowledge economy.
The warning from Yokohama is clear.
The time bomb is ticking. But it can be defused with the right policies and the right partnerships.
By the right and focused decisions and a model of mutual respect and growth, we can transform our demographic wave from a threat into an unstoppable force for prosperity.
The conference in Japan is over, but the real work for Africa’s leaders has just begun.
