Fight for economic freedom, Govt advised

GOVERNMENT should prioritise working with other Af- rican countries in the region to fight economic dependence, says Citizens Democratic Party President Robert Mwanza.

Commenting on the African Freedom Day celebrations, Mr Mwanza said African countries should fight for economic freedom with the same unity that freedom fighters exhibited in fighting against colonialism.

He told Daily Nation in an interview that African countries could not boast of total independence as most countries were

still economically dependent on Western economies. “African country’s should work together to fight for economic independence if the continent is to be fully independent, because we are politically independent but we still rely on Western country’s to run our economies,” Mwanza.

He said it was unacceptable, decades after independence for African countries to be dependent on Western countries to survive economically.

Mr Mwanza said first President Kennenth Kaunda and other leaders in Africa were united for countries to realise independence.

“For Africa to gain political independence our leaders had to be united, in the same way we would want our government to play a leading role by strengthening partnerships with other countries within the region to grow economically and become really independent states, this is now our challenge,” he said.