Ghana president to help SA resolve its land issue
‘We owe it to those who hundreds of years ago had the foresight to fight’
GHANAIAN President Nana Akufo-Addo has weighed in on South Africa’s contentious land debate, saying his country was also grappling with the issue.
The West African country’s leader was speaking at the Union Buildings yesterday during the first state visit hosted by President Cyril Ramaphosa since he assumed office this year.
Akufo-Addo said his country had been very fortunate because in the past its people fought hard against the colonial system which sought to appropriate land from indigenous people.
“We were very lucky in our history in that when colonial powers in the country were seizing the land of the indigenous people in Ghana, a group of people got together led by the Gold Coast Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society... as a result of this mobilisation, they were able to prevent the seizure of land,” he said.
“To that extent, the problem of foreign seizure of land has not been an issue in Ghana. We owe it to the people who hundreds of years ago had the foresight to fight,” he said.
Akufo-Addo said land problems his country had experienced since then lay heavily on administration, but his government was working to improve these challenges in order to bring about land security.
Akufo-Addo and Ramaphosa’s bilateral discussions come at a time when African leaders have committed to open their countries for free trade movement in order to boost the continent’s economy in line with AU agreements and resolutions.
Ramaphosa said he and his counterpart, alongside their ministers, had also discussed energy in great length.
“We have just signed an agreement on the free movement of people, so let the people move freely.
“What they should do as more developed economies of the world is to invest in African economies so that in the end there is broad-based economic development and growth,” he said.
Akufo-Addo’s today. visit ends