Astute Ghanaian Economist and businessman, Dr Kofi Amoah, has charged the youth of this country and the African continent to take an active role when it comes to the development of the continent.

He argues that there is a big missing link between the vast potential of the youth in Africa and the role they play in its development.

Dr Amoah says he cannot fathom why Africa, with its vast natural and human resources, remains the poorest economy in the world when all the indicators suggest that it should be the largest.

Speaking on a Twitter Space organized by students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology over the weekend, Dr Amoah opined that there must be a paradigm shift in the mindset of Africans, especially the youth. He reckons this mindset shift is the first step to self-worth.

“Africa should probably be the most powerful economy in the world. As an economist, I am telling you that Africa if we knew what we have and have unity among ourselves and organise ourselves properly should be the largest economy today in the world. But we are the poorest and we are the most exploited.”

Dr Amoah told the youth listing to him that his decision to speak to them is to awaken their senses, and help them cut the negative umbilical cord that is continuously enslaving Africans and not letting the continent reach its fullest potential.

“What is it in us? What is in our blueprint, in our mindset; in the understanding of ourselves that made us become slaves? How do you as a tribe or community align yourself with foreigners to fight your neighbours and capture them and sell them into slavery?
What makes you sign a bond in the case of Ghana, the bond of 1844 and give your sovereignty to another foreign country to colonize you and exploit you.”

Dr Amoah claims the time has come for Africans to have confidence and trust in themselves and not in foreigners.

“When you don’t have confidence and trust in yourself, you kill your soul. We go and borrow to do a project; we then turn around and give the contract to a foreign company and most times the reason we are doing that is that we don’t have confidence in our own contractors that they can do the job. Even if you don’t think they can do the job, should you be giving these contracts to outsiders forever? Can’t we think of a period of time of learning by doing?

Dr Amoah has been a big advocate of believing in African talents and has been on a crusade to galvanise the youth of Ghana and Africa to play an active role in building the continent.


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