President John Dramani Mahama has said Africa’s next major struggle is economic emancipation, arguing that the continent has achieved political independence but remains constrained by an economic order that continues to reinforce dependency.
Mahama said the challenge facing African leaders today is to build economies that create jobs, add value to natural resources and reduce reliance on external financing.
“That struggle for us is no longer the liberation struggle, it’s the struggle for economic emancipation,” Mahama said in an interview with Ghida Fakhry on TRT World’s Bigger Than Five.
He said Ghana was seeking to change the traditional model of exporting raw materials by increasing local processing of cocoa, refining gold and ending raw mineral ore exports by 2031.
Ghana currently processes about 30% of its cocoa locally, according to Mahama, who said the government wants to raise this to at least 50%. He also said the country’s gold production increased from 64 tonnes in 2024 to 104 tonnes, generating $10.8 billion for the economy.
“We believe that the time has come for us to add value to our natural resources rather than just export them,” he said.
Mahama also called for stronger African financial institutions, arguing that countries on the continent could use part of their foreign reserves to support development and reduce the cost of borrowing for major infrastructure projects.
He said greater African integration would be critical to giving the continent more bargaining power in the global economy and international institutions.
“Africa cannot continue to be a dependent continent,” Mahama said.
He linked the push for economic independence to the broader vision of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, saying the continent had yet to achieve the economic independence envisaged at the time of political liberation.
Mahama said Africa now has an opportunity to accelerate that process through technology, digital services and artificial intelligence, particularly as a young population increasingly demands faster economic progress.
