Africa must move beyond seeking inclusion in global systems and begin exercising greater power over the institutions, priorities and development models that shape its future, Ghana’s Presidential Special Envoy for Reparations, Ambassador Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has said.
Delivering the opening keynote at the Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power conference in Accra, Dr Spio-Garbrah argued that the continent’s development challenge is not simply a question of securing greater representation in existing global structures, but of fundamentally changing who gets to design them.
Addressing a three-day gathering of more than 200 leaders from 30 countries on the title: “Africa at the center, why now” focused on African ownership, locally led development and shifting power within the international development system.
For decades, African countries and institutions have participated in international development systems in which priorities, funding mechanisms and measures of success have frequently been established outside the continent.
According to him, Africa cannot secure a different future simply by asking for a larger seat at a table whose rules, priorities and structures were designed elsewhere. “ Participation is not ownership, representation is not power, and inclusion in an unequal system does not necessarily transform that system,” Dr Spio-Garbrah said..
Indicating, African institutions must develop their own financing systems, development models and institutional frameworks based on African realities, priorities and values. An Africa that is merely included in global decision-making may have representation without corresponding influence. An Africa that helps design the rules begins to exercise agency.The continent must increasingly help design the table itself, He emphasized.
Dr Spio-Garbrah keynote also connected today’s power imbalances to Africa’s history, which argued that contemporary patterns of extraction, dependency, unequal access to capital and distorted knowledge systems cannot be completely separated from the histories of slavery, colonial exploitation and unequal international relationships.
The current momentum around reparations and African agency must be converted into concrete action. Africa, must move from moral recognition to political commitment, political commitment to institutional action, and institutional action to measurable outcomes , He stated.
He mentioned, “Placing Africa at the centre,” he argued, does not mean turning away from the world. It means engaging the world from a position of confidence, dignity, institutional strength and strategic clarity. Under the leadership of H.E. President John Dramani Mahama, Ghana is positioning itself at the forefront of the global reparatory justice agenda. The Office of the Presidential Special Envoy for Reparations, the Ambassador explained, serves as an institutional vehicle for coalition-building, — bridging African governments, the African Union, CARICOM, diaspora communities, civil society and international partners. The task ahead, he emphasized, is to move decisively from declarations to coordinated implementation, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ambassador in his closing remark believes the future should be headed. Stressing “The future of Africa must not simply happen to Africa — Africa must design it.”
Written by: Ruth Teye
