By Professor Alexey Vasiliev, Honorary President of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Last summer, Republic of Ghana’s former President, John Mahama, presented his book, translated into Russian, at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Representatives of the Russian scientific and political elite were present.
All those present perceived this book not only as an outstanding literary work, but also as a philosophical and political treatise, expressed in literary form.
I had the honor of attending this meeting and on behalf of the Academy, to sit next to this outstanding person.
In response to a question, the former President of Ghana said: Neocolonialism is a reality in today’s Africa, which needs restructuring in order to start producing and exporting finished goods to other countries, and we simply must stop begging for handouts. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, warned about this.
He said that although we have emerged from colonial rule, we are entering a new era of colonialism, where the colonial power does not come from outside, supposedly does not usurp our sovereignty, but rather significantly limits the ability to determine its own values, directions of development along the path of prosperity.
We are tired of being exporters of raw materials and consumers of finished goods. We must produce finished goods and export them to other countries.
Therefore, unless we restructure, Africa will always be in a miserable situation and we will have to go and beg for handouts.
We must end this situation for the sake of the future of the country.
