Poor governance remains one of Africa’s biggest challenges. In this regard accelerating the continent’s progress from the current state requires a rethink of development and governance issues.

As part of the Institute of Economic Affairs’(IEA) mission to promote good governance in Ghana and across the African region, the IEA in collaboration with the Tony Blair African Governance Initiative hosted a round table discussion on the theme: Governance and Development in Africa’ with Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997-2007).

In the welcome address by Dr. Charles Mensa, Board Chairman of the IEA, he congratulated Mr. Blair for the establishment of the Blair Institute for Global Change – an institute focused on strengthening effective governance. Dr. Mensa argued that the challenging issue in African economies is the nature of our own economic policies. In his opinion, although many African states are independent they are still caught up in practicing old ‘colonial economics’. They prioiritise to produce raw materials for the factories of the world instead of our own factories.

Tony Blair in his remarks thanked the IEA for its valuable role in promoting democratic values and political stability in Ghana. He also complemented Ghana for the peaceful transfer of power in the 2016 elections. He stated that a country’s governance is a critical factor to seize the opportunities of the modern and globalized world. According to Mr. Blair, effective governance is a key challenge; to most leaders in Africa. He thus called on leaders to build the capacity of officials around them in order to deliver on their priorities.

Speaking about his commitment to Africa, the former PM of UK said “my commitment to Africa is as strong as ever”. In his view Africa faces a historic opportunity to make the kind of economic leap that Asian countries have made over the last 30 years. Africa need to look beyond aid to an era of partnership and collaboration; Africa’s future belongs in the hands of African leaders and its people, he added.

The round-table discussion was well attended by prominent guests from the Diplomatic Corps, civil society, traditional leaders, government officials, Parliamentarians, Media practitioners and the private sector.

Among these guests were; Ron Striker, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Jon Benjamin, High Commissioner, British High Commission, Melinder Tabler-Stone, Deputy Head of missions-US Embass; Lasse Udsholt, Counsellor for Development, Danish Embassy; Jean Mensa, Executive Director, IEA; Dr. Edward Brown, Policy Advisory Service, ACET; Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Dr. Zanetor Rawlings, MPs respectively.

The event came to a close with a media briefing where media practitioners had the opportunity to interact with Tony Blair.