President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the African diaspora to help change the narrative around Africa, which has often been filtered through the lens of disease, hunger, poverty and illegal mass migration.
“The urgent responsibility we face is to make our country and our continent attractive to our people as a place of opportunity,” he said while speaking at the Young African and Diaspora Leaders Summit held on the sidelines of the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
The President noted that history is full of examples where diaspora communities have had a positive impact on national growth and development through increased trade activities, increased investment, and transfer of skills and knowledge.
Citing the example of China, which has an immigrant population of 60 million, he told a rally attended by US Vice President Kamala Harris that the Chinese diaspora is said to be the world’s 25th most populous country and owns assets worth $2.5 trillion, according to Nikkei Asian Review.
“When foreign companies reduced investment in China in the late 1970s, it was the Chinese diaspora that supported the economy,” he said.
Half of the foreign direct investment that turned China into a manufacturing powerhouse in the 1990s, about $26 billion, came from the Chinese diaspora, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute (MPI).
President Akufo-Addo said harnessing the resources of the diaspora to promote African development is the basis of Ghana’s Beyond Return initiative, which he explained builds on the great successes of the Year of Return and a renewed enthusiasm for building Africa together.
He therefore appealed to young leaders in Africa and the diaspora to help change Africa’s narrative, which has been characterized by a focus on disease, hunger, poverty and illegal mass migration.
“Let us all remember that the fate of all black people, wherever they are in the world, is tied to Africa. Let us never forget the famous commandment of the famous Jamaican reggae star Peter Tosh: “It doesn’t matter where you come from. As long as you are black, you are African.”
“We must help make Africa a place of investment, progress and prosperity, rather than a place where young people flee in hopes of accessing the mirage of a better life in Europe, Asia or the Americas.
“That is what Beyond the Return aims to do, so that we can derive the maximum benefit from our relationship with the diaspora in mutually beneficial cooperation and as partners in shared growth and development,” he stressed.
The President believed that the 21st century would see enhanced development, the growth of a modern, prosperous and technologically advanced nation within a united Africa, and the creation of dignity and respect for black people around the world.
“We have had enough talks and, dare I say it, enough meetings and workshops. We know what needs to be done, and now is the time to do it. We have run out of excuses for the state of the continent. We have the human resources and we should have the political will. It is time to make Africa work,” he said.
