A Cameroonian businesswoman and avid critic of the actions of France in Africa, Nathalie Yamb, has described the attempts by French President, Emmanuel Macron, to give advice to African countries on how to manage their economies as a joke.

She said that it is laughable that France, the most indebted country in Europe, thinks that it is best fit to offer the best advice to African countries when it is clear that all it seeks to do is to use the continent for its parochial interests.

Making these assertions in a Facebook video, Nathalie Yamb stressed that the intention of France and its president, Emmanuel Macron, is to capitalize on Africa’s influence and use it to feed its own interests.

“We are one year away from the French presidential elections. Macron wants to use the continent to solve its internal problems. He was elected by the French to deal with their issues but he has completely failed and has proved himself unable to tackle France’s unemployment, migration, debt and industrialization, and he wants to propose a new deal to African countries? Give them advice and help them cope with their economic problems? With France is the most indebted country in Europe in terms of debt to GDP? Really? That must be a joke.

“Macron has absolutely no legitimacy whatsoever in discussing our debt, our future, our economic, political or diplomatic choices. It is unacceptable for France to take the lead in thinking, acting, supporting actions and providing expertise to African countries,” she explained.

Nathalie Yamb also added that the French president is pretending to offer Africa a new deal when it is only a rehash of what has existed before, making it nothing new for the continent.

She also described Macron as a "notorious plagiarist", one who has been stealing ideas from Africa.

“Once again, Macron confirms his reputation as being a notorious plagiarist. After stealing the name ECO from the ECOWAS, he is now stealing the concept of Roosevelt. That being said, Macron’s France does not have the capacity to propose a new deal for Africa that will promote the interest of the African people, respect for their fundamental rights, human rights, poverty rights, freedom and sovereignty. What he has done is serving an expired product in a new packaging.

“He calls the new deal what they called heavily indebted poor countries initiative not long ago, which were called structural adjustment programs before, which were preceded by the development assistance program. We’ve heard, we’ve seen it all before,” she stressed.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the company of other African leaders, attended a Summit on Financing African Economies, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, May 18.

The Summit, which brought together several African and European leaders, and heads of international financial institutions, devised strategies that will boost strong, inclusive recovery in Africa, grounded in a dynamic private sector, help foster sustainable progress and prosperity.

It also helped in the acceleration of the green and digital transition in line with the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.