Former UN Senior Governance Advisor, Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has characterised the cancellation of ‘The Convention’ organized by the New Africa Foundation as “more than embarrassing.”
He expressed his opinion that the event, which brought together African thought leaders to promote the spirit of Pan-Africanism, does not pose a threat to the national security of the country.
During an interview on Newsfile, he elaborated that each of these leaders, including Professor PLO Lumumba, Peter Obi, and Julius Malema, are accomplished Africans. Therefore, a convention with them as key speakers would inspire young people and reignite the spirit of Africanism.
Prof. Agyeman-Duah justified his assertion by emphasizing that such a meeting is essential to promote growth and development in the country.
“If you look at the impressive array of speakers, these are the new voices of Africa and they are talking about Pan-Africanism, a concept that was popularised by our own first president so they came to pay due respect to a country that rose to be a citadel of Pan-Africanism.
“For some reason Ghana, we don’t even talk that language anymore and these are not ordinary people,” he said.
Touching on the achievements of the respective speakers, he said “Dr Arikana was AU ambassador to the United Nations in New York, and because of his pronouncement especially on the exploitation of Africa by foreign countries in this case, the French in particular how they have exploited their former colonies and continue to exploit. This is what led the AU to withdraw his appointment because France and other Western countries could not simply accommodate.”
“PLO Lumumba is oftentimes in Ghana, I even thought he had a wife in the country because he is here all the time. He is a Ghana lover. Peter Obi is a new guy in the block on Nigerian politics. What kind of threat could the pronouncements of these individuals pose to the country?” he quizzed.
He stressed that these people’s main mandate would encourage young people to believe in their potential and contribute their quota to building the nation, therefore the manner the event was cancelled was a scandal.
“Of course, they were going to excite young people and there is no doubt that young people need new voices because the old voices have become archaic. We don’t give any inspiring words anymore so if these people have emerged to inspire young people, I don’t see the threat. For me this was more than embarrassing it was a scandal because the personalities involved are not ordinary people,” he said.
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