Rt. Hon. Paul Boateng, a member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, has urged Ghana’s political leadership to make intentional efforts to break the existing cycle of relying on external help to drive growth.
On Tuesday, June 18, Lord Boateng addressed participants at the 2024 Annual Leadership Lecture at the Kofi Ohene-Konadu Auditorium at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), referencing President Akufo-Addo’s 2018 bold statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he emphasised the need for Africa to wean itself off external aid.
“Break the vicious cycle of dependence on external aid. Who here does not remember the moment His Excellency the President [Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo] stood next to the president of France [Emmanuel] Macron and went viral and made the point about the need for us to cease to have to rely on external aid if we are to break that vicious cycle of dependence on external aid and those great powers who have fed and continue to feed on Africa’s resources and whose activities with their willing collaborators hold Africa down in an impoverished and conflicted posture?”
Speaking on the theme “Fulfilling the Promise: The Challenge of Leadership! Moving from Rhetoric to Delivery,” Lord Boateng said Ghana has been impoverished for years due to its dependence on external aid.
He also expressed disappointment in the recent comparison of a Dutch Passport being worth more than a Ghanaian PhD by a social media user.
“We are held down in an impoverished and conflicted posture by our dependence on external aid and the great powers, and it is something terrible when a statement on the internet that a Dutch Passport is worth more than a Ghanaian PhD.
“It is is something terrible when that goes viral on the internet. We cannot allow it to be so and leadership must be at the heart of our response.”
