A year ago
AU Day: Africa still has a long way to go - Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the Central University, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has called for unity and development in Africa as the continent celebrates Africa Day today which is May 25.
The African continent is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and now, the African Union (AU). It was on this day in the year 1963 that thirty-two heads of independent African countriesmet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, together with the leaders of theAfrican Independence Movement to chart a path for African independence. vis-à-visimperialism, colonialism and apartheid; culminating in the creation of the first post-independence continental organization called the Organization of African Unity.
This was designed as an expression of the Pan-Africanvision of a united, independentAfrica and the master of its future but, for Dr Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, 60 years later,the vision for Africa to begin with has not been fully realized. He expressed hisdisappointment with the leaders and citizens of African countries for showing the continent's bad behavior.
He also condemned the habit of projecting evil on Africa, givingthe continent a bad name and giving the impression that all is not well in the continent. Dr.Otchere-Ankrah believes thatthe African region is too rich to make these decisions, therefore calling on Africanleaders to wake up and take measures aimed at the development of the continent.
“We have a long way to go, but let's start somewhere. . . When you go there they will tell you that they have CNN or BBC but, in Africa, we don't have any media that works in Africa. It's just a bad thing we do to ourselves, but I've seen people sleeping on the streets in America. But we think ours is still bad. Not bad, yes, but let's go somewhere. Let's improve for posterity," he said.
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