ˆ”‹…ƒ –‘ –ƒ‡ •Š‘”–…—– –‘ †‡˜‡Ž‘’‡– Ȃ
VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE – Malawi President Dr Lazarus Chikwera says the African continent can leapfrog decades of underdevelopment and catch up with the West, provided it embraces technology.
The president said this when making his remarks at the 6th Transform Africa Summit held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on Wednesday.
“We must rise through technology, rise together and rise now,” he said.
President Chikwera said Malawi was going to be a new member of the Smart Africa Alliance by the end of the summit.
He appreciated the leadership of President Paul Kagame and his effort in driving and guiding the alliance for the past six years.
Leapfrog
This summit will enable African countries to leapfrog decades of development stages and catch up with the rest of the world.
He said the continent of Africa has been delayed and derailed throughout history. At one time, it was delayed by detachment from the rest of the world which deprived the continent of new ideas for economic progress.
The president said at other times it has been delayed by superstitions that resisted new inventions and innovations that threatened old ideas.
“For the longest time it was delayed by decades of colonialism, as foreign nations from the West scrambled for Africa’s resources and used them to develop their own economies leaving Africa underdeveloped. Most recently, we are seeing a new scramble for Africa, between the West and the East as they each seek to dominate the industries of tomorrow using Africa’s rich minerals and metals all in collaboration with corrupt government willing to sell their government’s economic sovereignty for a song,” he said.
President Dr Chikwera said in all these delays Africa has been left behind in agricultural production, in standards of education, in tourism, mining, health and infrastructural development and in trade and many other sectors.
“In fact, I submit that we have been left behind so much that we will never catch up if our approach is to take the same path as those nations that are hundred of years ahead of us in development. The challenge to us today is to embrace technology which will see us leapfrogging many steps and accelerate our development,” he said.
The president said the only short cut to Africa’s social and economic development catch up is technology, which allows the continent to go digitally every second.
“The only way is for us to work hard by lifting the obstacles to digitalisation and work together to connecting the continent digitally so that Africa becomes the single digital hub. There should be more heads of States here if Africa is to rise as a continent and leapfrog to the fourth Industrial Highway then we must rise through technology, must rise together and must rise now,” he said.