The Africa Bar Association has conferred a Medal of Merit in Leadership Award on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at its 2023 Annual Conference of the Association in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Award, according to the President of the Association, Hannibal Egbe Uwaifo, was conferred on President Akufo-Addo because he is “a pan Africanist, anti-corruption crusader, a rare democratic leader in the field of good governance, a true African statesman whose legacies present African leaders must emulate, and we are minded to say will stand the test of time.”
Thanking the African Bar Association for the award, the President stated that the legal profession has a rarefied position in African societies, and lawyers are assured of a special status.
“In all our countries, it must be a source of pride for us that lawyers were in the forefront of the fight for liberation from colonialism. Indeed, since independence, lawyers have moved seamlessly between politics and the legal profession,” he stated.
With Africa having been unable to translate all her abundant natural advantages into building successful states, the President told the gathering that the time is long overdue for Africa and Africans to define her own narrative.
“We must be defined by what we see in ourselves, and not what others choose to say about us. However, this cannot happen if we do not trade amongst ourselves. Africa accounts for only three per cent of global trade, and intra-African trade is one of the lowest of any region globally,” he said.
The President continued, “This is largely due to the “colonial” economic model characterised by small individual economies, fragmented and disconnected regional markets, over-reliance on the production and export of primary commodities, and the presence of low productive capacities, which have been in existence for the last century.”
The emergence of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in which trading began on January 1, 2021, and whose Secretariat Ghana is privileged to host, President Akufo-Addo noted, represents a historic opportunity for Africa to strengthen, immeasurably, intra-African trade as a powerful avenue for developing Africa’s vast economic and material potential
“As the adage goes, there is strength in unity, and, for all 54 Member States of the African Union, our strength lies with our numbers. Cumulatively, we have a population of 1.3 billion, the majority of whom are young people, and we are in possession of a collective GDP of three trillion United States dollars (US$ 3 trillion), making us, collectively, the eighth (8th) largest economy in the world,” he stressed.
This, he explained, positions Africa as, potentially, an attractive investment destination, adding that “with the relevant investment, we will be able to sustain economic growth, and create the job opportunities that the youth of our continent so desperately need.”
BY TIMES REPORTER
