President John Dramani Mahama has stated that securing economic freedom is the next big task for Ghana, Jamaica and other African nations, and urged closer collaboration to achieve lasting growth and common prosperity.
Addressing a Special High-Level Reparations Dialogue at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, President Mahama observed that while political independence had already been achieved, the focus must now shift to creating strong economies that deliver real benefits to the people.
He pointed out that the vision and efforts of Pan-African leaders had fueled independence movements across Africa and were crucial to the continent’s freedom.
“I’m happy to have come to Jamaica. We all know the relationships that have existed between Ghana and Jamaica. Indeed, our first president, of blessed memory, had always written and spoken about Marcus Garvey and the influence he had on him.“ Today, all that is history. But that was the fight for liberation,” he said.President Mahama added that Ghana and Jamaica must now use their historic ties to push forward economic change through deeper partnership and shared opportunities.
“But today, we’re faced with a new fight. And that is why the relationships between us and visits like this are important. “The battle that confronts us now is not the battle for liberation—we’re independent anyway—the battle that confronts us is how we can cooperate to increase our economic development and create prosperity for our people. And so the battle now is the battle for economic emancipation,” he added.
