Addressing the Africa Trade Summit in Accra, President John Dramani Mahama warned that Africa’s political independence remains hollow without economic transformation, urging nations to move beyond raw material exports.
“Continued reliance on exporting unprocessed commodities is a new colonial arrangement designed to trap Africa in poverty,” President Mahama said at the Kempinski Hotel on Wednesday.
He emphasised that industrialisation anchored in value addition and beneficiation is key to creating jobs, raising incomes, and developing skills. Africa currently produces the majority of cocoa globally but gains only a tiny share of the value from processed chocolate, a stark example of the continent’s lost economic potential.
Ghana is leading efforts to shift from a commodity-dependent economy by boosting domestic processing, cutting imports, and increasing export revenue. President Mahama called on other African nations to adopt similar strategies, saying: “What is freedom without economic transformation? Is it complete?”
