General News of Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2018-02-20
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, says the destiny of Africans anywhere in the world is irrevocably tied to Africa, therefore Africans at home and abroad must combine their resources to propel the growth of the Continent.
He said the most important factor in the development of any nation was her human capital and, thus, called for re-connection of the African descent to accelerate socio-economic development. “We want quality human capital that is why our education systems have to be ramped up.
“And we have to link up with the human capital in the Diaspora and take advantage to propel this Continent scientifically,” he emphasised. Vice President Bawumia said this at the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Dr W.E.B Du Bois, a Pan-Africanist, in Accra, on Monday.
Dr Du Bois was born on February 22, 1868, in Great Barrington, a small town in Massachusetts, USA, and was elected a leader of the Pan-African Movement that sought solidarity between all people of African descent.
The Vice President said the emancipation of the African descent anywhere in the world depended on the emancipation of the African Continent, hence the need to grow and move Africa beyond aid.
“It is important for Africans to recognise that we’re all Africans, whether you’re in the Diaspora or on the Continent.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a billionaire walking on the streets of America as a Blackman; they will see you no different from anybody walking on the streets of Africa, and so the emancipation of the people of African descent lies in the emancipation of Africa,” Dr Bawumia noted.
Alluding to Dr Du Bois’ drive to reconnect the Africans in the Diaspora to the African Continent, Dr Bawumia said after almost 400 years of the advent of slavery, Africa was still strong with an estimated population of over one billion.
Dr Bawumia noted that, Dr Du Bois’ decision to relocate to Ghana in 1961 sowed a seed that reflected his commitment to the development of the African descent. “The message for me in his coming back home is a singular act that sowed a seed, and we’re all the products of that seed,” he observed.
Vice President Bawumia noted that, next year 2019, would mark 400 years of the documented arrival of the first slaves from Africa to America, therefore if human capital was the key to the development and progress of nations, then we have had 400 years loss of human capital.
Therefore, it was important for the Africans to join forces with that human capital in the Diaspora for accelerated growth, he stated.