Mr. President, Before I start, let’s look at the statistics.
- With over $1 billion dollars in dept to China, Sri Lanka handed over the Hambantota port to companies owned by the Chinese government.
- New Djibouti, home to the US military’s main base in Africa, looks to cede control of the Doraleh Container Terminal to a Beijing-linked company; something the US is not happy about.
- Seven other countries; Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao, the Maldives, Mongolia, Pakistan, Montenegro suffer similar fate
- Over 70% of Kenya’s external bilateral debt is owed to China, and in danger of losing its busy port of Mombasa
- Senegal’s highway from Dakar to Touba, it’s second city, and part of an industrial park in Diamniadio, as well as other projects is being financed partially by the Chinese up to a tune of about $1.6 billion
- Chinese contractors have been dominating road construction projects in Uganda
The list goes on and on. And to be frank, I do not give a damn about what the IMF, US or Europe think about the threat China poses on getting so much power in Africa and other places. The IMF, US and Europe have had their own share of power struggle in Africa when excessive loans from them to African countries in the 80’s and 90’s resulted in a lot of countries declaring HIPC. I cannot overemphasize the horrors of colonialism which was spearheaded by these countries who seem to care now about China’s rise to dominance in emerging countries.
What I care about is what Africa needs. What I care about is what Africa wants. What I care about is what Africa has to do to be independent and rely on its own natural and human resource, to forge a greater continent that very few can fathom. On Kwame Nkrumah’s declaration of independence, he made it clear that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked to the total liberation of Africa. Over 60 years, Africa is nowhere near liberation and I fear Africa will never be liberated.
The president of the Republic of Ghana, on his recent trip to the three Northern Regions announced the process of securing a $2 billion loan from who else, but China, to tackle the country’s road infrastructure deficit. The fact is, he will not be there when the ripple effect come. You and I may probably not be there too. But what kind of humans are we if we do not care about posterity.
Numerous loans have been taken for various projects in Ghana that never saw the light of day. For decades, the busiest road in Ghana (Accra-Kumasi) is near starting than finishing. It is so evident that most, if not all of our leaders are concerned with making themselves rich than making Ghana great. They only disagree in public to agree to sharing public funds. Enough is enough.
Africa is self-sufficient, Ghana is also. We should be concerned with forming a common nation, sharing ideas and resources. That’s the only way to make Africa great. No one African nation is an island on its own. The time is now more than ever for us to unite.
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