The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has blamed the Western World especially Canada, U.S.A, Germany, Britain and others for the high levels of poverty in Africa. He said: “when we export our oil, gold, manganese, cocoa and other resources, who determines their prices? When we import cars and other products from them (West), who determines their prices? When we export, they determine, when we import, they determine. If it continues this way, there will never be justice in international relations”.

Kwesi Pratt was contributing to a discussion on Ghana’s Foreign Policy at the Second Ghana Policy Fair held in Accra. He sounded emotional throughout his speech and stated that, “foreign policy is not about sweet grandiose talking, it is not about suit wearing, it is about our lives”. According to him, if we could feed ourselves, do things without foreign assistance, they would have been no need for foreign policy.

He explained that, in today’s world, no nation is an Island and that, it was important for Ghanaians to know where we came from, where we are, and where we were going. He added, “let us also know what we have taken from the outside world and what we can offer the outside world. That should inform our foreign policy”.

He stated that, Africans had lived civilized lives 3000 years before Jesus Christ was born and that it was sad our animal ranching was under the control of the Metropolitan West. He lamented that Ghanaians still walk long distances to carry out economic activities and said, “research indicates that 50 per cent of Ghanaians cannot read and write and only 5 per cent of revenue from our gold enters Ghana’s economy.

We are still importing match sticks. What is it? A piece of stick! We are importing everything including underwear-that is our today-we are still in the Stone Age, where some people still grind pepper on stones”.

He blamed France and other Western powers for the crisis in Ivory Coast saying, “Alhassane Outtara is not the president of that country as he has to be sworn in by a constitutional council. Why is France not swearing him in and looking for a constitutional council to do so?”

Kwesi Pratt said African countries are subsidizing the economies of the West-Germany, US, Canada etc. He added, “take a look at Cuba, they have no resources yet they continue to give us doctors every year. There can be no reasonable excuse why we are poor, jobless and deprived because poverty is not God-given. To fight poverty, it requires thinking and we can do it”.

He lambasted people who want to impose their religion on others and also spend most of their time praying instead of working. “Go to the various ministries in the morning and see what they do. The first thing they do is morning devotion when they go to work. It is a useless enterprise and must stop”, he said angrily.

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