Saying goodbye can be difficult, but a thoughtful gift can make the process a little easier. More than well thought out, the lovely farewell gift offered by President Nana Akufo-Ado, five days before he leaves office, is a sign that the continent is moving in the right direction: Ghana thus joins the shortlist of the five states to guarantee visa-free entry to nationals of the continent’s 54 countries. Only Rwanda, Seychelles, Gambia and Benin had adopted a similar policy.
“I am proud to have agreed to visa-free travel for all African passport holders, with effect from the beginning of this year,” said the outgoing president during his last speech to the Nation. A courageous decision in a country struggling with a serious economic crisis. Its worst in decades: inflation of more than 20%, the collapse of the local currency, prices at the pump which have doubled, a debt which swallows up half of the state’s income, historic unemployment of young people. Everything came together to do what many countries have accustomed us to in recent years when they go through difficulties: pursue the foreigner (accused of taking the places of the natives) before rejecting them. But no, instead, President Nana’s Ghana has agreed to welcome with open arms citizens of the African continent who no longer have to present a visa on arrival.
In a world marked by the return of extremism, the cult of the nation conceived as an ethnic group, the rejection of otherness and universalism, Nana-Ado sends, through his decision, a strong message of hope, showing, therefore, the way forward for other heads of state on the continent who must know that the right of every African to move freely throughout Africa is a matter of basic common sense. Because as Jean-Baptiste Placca, journalist and editorialist, brilliantly recalled, Africa is a continent where once even the shepherds and their flocks followed their route according to the green pastures without any conflict of borders.
“People who barricade themselves in the rejection of others have never been the happiest on earth,” said the journalist in his column broadcast on Rfi (Radio France Internationale) on Sunday January 5, 2025. This is precisely the The spirit of openness of its first president which allowed Côte d’Ivoire, maintains Jean Baptiste Placca, to experience prosperity which still earns it a central place in West Africa today. Nana-Ado and all other leaders who think and act like him deserve respect and consideration. Jean-Baptiste calls them Pan-Africanists of “concrete acts” to be distinguished from “verbal” Pan-Africanists, who boast of Pan-Africanist flights of fancy and then keep their most immediate neighbors at a distance or even close their doors to them. It is regrettable to see the media in a country like Senegal, a land of hospitality and fraternity, promoting these “verbal” Pan-Africanists who play on fears and hatreds, and strive to maintain them and to feed them. One of them was even elected to the National Assembly.
Carried by press organs which, perhaps unconsciously, promote identity-based rhetoric, making people believe that the inhabitants of a neighboring country constitute a threat and a cost more than an asset for our country. This false speech must be banned. First and foremost on radio and television sets which must promote solidarity between brother peoples united by history and geography. It is only in Africa that we see compatriots lashing out against their African brothers who have come to seek betterment at home.
A French citizen will never point the finger at a German or another immigrant of European or American nationality. We must build this credible Africa where a Malian, Guinean, Gambian, Malagasy, Cameroonian, etc. must be at home in Senegal. And a Senegalese must benefit from the same privilege in these countries.
It is only in this way that we will be able to be respected, walk in the direction of history and be worthy heirs of Kwamé Nkrumah, founding father of Pan-Africanism.
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