Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana, has challenged African leaders to abandon the mindset of impossibility and embrace the mindset of possibility in order for the African continent to reach the levels of developed countries.
He made the call while addressing participants of Harvard University‘s Africa Development Conference in the United States over the weekend.
In his address, Dr Bawumia identified the continuous reliance on ineffective systems in Africa as the bane of the continent’s economic growth and development.
He said the status quo remains because the continent has, for many years, not broken the “shackles of impossibility mindsets”.
“The truth is that while African countries are politically free, we still have a mindset that is shackled by the experience of 500 years of slavery and colonialism,” Bawumia added.
“For the longest time, we have not believed in ourselves. The dominant mindset is one of impossibility,” he said.
He claimed that over-reliance on raw materials rather than human capital development, as well as a lack of effective systems such as an identity system, a property addressing system, massive financial exclusion, and manual delivery of public services, are major contributory factors to Africa’s stalled progress.
He has therefore asked Africa to embrace the 4th Industrial Revolution to address these basic system challenges, and more importantly, break the impossibility mindset, which he said is a major hindrance to Africa’s forward march.
“Our generation needs to break the shackles of the impossibility mindset and embrace the mindset of possibility. It is time for us to figure out the best ways to be masters of our destiny, chart our own path and develop on our own terms. It is possible!”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
