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Africans urged to realize their
potentials and forge ahead
Cape Coast, July 30, GNA - Professor
Ronald Walter, a lecturer at the University of Maryland,
USA, on Monday urged Africans to realize their potentials
and forge ahead with the unity of the continent from the
grassroots level "where the pressure is high".
He said the struggle for an economically developed Africa
was on the wrong paradigm and that some countries would "out
run others" if African unity was based on economic
development.
Prof Walter, who is also the director of the
African-American Leadership Institute in the US, was
addressing a Colloquium at the University of Cape Coast (UCC)
as part of activities of the 8th edition of Pan-African
Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST).
The Colloquium is under the theme "Pan-Africanism in the
context of Africa's political, socio-economic development"
and is being attended by participants drawn from Ghana,
Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, Surinam, Italy, Austria,
the Caribbean and the US.
It is discussing issues that would facilitate the unity of
Africa as well as enhance the celebration of the festival.
He said the time had come for Africa to "rise up and be
counted among the lot and take up its rightful position by
forming a strong political force with one voice to make the
continent heard".
He said many had looked at America for salvation and that
"many are now looking at Africa, the way it would be, when
it becomes united and is able to control its own resources".
"The continent would shake like an earthquake if Africans
are able to move their resources together as one big
family."
Prof Walkers appealed to Africans to fight harder for "long
projects" and continue with their struggles in one voice as
leaders like Dr Kwame Nkrumah started many years ago.
Reverend Professor Emmanuel Adow Obeng, Vice Chancellor of
the UCC, said hosting the colloquium was the university's
contribution towards the festival and that this year's event
was unique because it coincided with Ghana's 50th
independence anniversary and the 200 years of the abolition
of the slave trade.
He expressed concern about the low patronage at the
colloquium and appealed to the organizers to fashion out the
colloquium as one of the major events of the festival and
invest more in it.
He said Africans should use the festival to link-up and
establish their own sister-city relationships and not only
depend on sister-city relations with American and other
European cities, since "charity begins at home".
Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhene of Oguaa Traditional Area,
said this year's colloquium should not be a talk show and
suggested that the deliberations should be compiled into a
booklet to serve as a reminder and reference.
He said he was unhappy that Africans had been influenced by
foreign cultures and were losing their own cultural values
and norms.
"Africans should live like Africans, act like Africans and
forge ahead with the development of the continent."
GNA
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