John Dramani Mahama and Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama made this call on Saturday at the Second Edition of the African Heritage Awards held on April 13, 2024 at the Ikeja Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, in the wake of political instability that has wrecked parts of Africa, and has seen a number of countries relegated to military rule.

Speaking during a strategic Panel Session themed: 'Shaping Africa's Path To Prosperity', Mahama strongly noted that the youthful population of Africa is fast growing, thus, leaders must 'move in a fast pace' to provide citizens with the dividends of democracy towards achieving self-reliance.

Mahama who was honored with the African Advancement Award for Exemplary Leadership at the event, said African countries can foster international cooperation by removing certain encumbrances like Visa restrictions, which he said is slowing down economic prosperity across the continent.

Recalling the pre-independence era, Dramani lamented that 'Africa does not have the opportunities that advanced countries had in the past. There's nobody to colonize, there is nobody to enslave all those things gave them the edge in their trajectory towards development'. 'Our founding fathers, Kwameh Nkrumah had wanted the African continent to come out of independence as one nation, but unfortunately, we lost that opportunity and became 54 different countries, flags, anthems and markets. This has constituted trade tariffs and other barriers,' he added.

He admitted that Africa is currently moving towards the right direction, adding that the laid out economic blueprints of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other regional 'trade schemes are steps in the right direction' that 'will allow our people to have a market of about 1.3 billion people'.

'There's more money leaving the African continent than money coming in. All the loans, donations and grants take more monies out of Africa than what comes in. In Africa, we should not need a visa to travel from Ethiopia to Ghana,' he said.

Similarly, former Botswana president who was Chairman of the prestigious event, regretted that despite the huge amount of human and natural resources domiciled in Africa, the continent has not transited into economic prosperity. He blamed corruption and bad leadership for the drawbacks.

Khama said from his experience as a politician, it can be agreed that a lot of Africa's challenges are man-made. 'We have the capacity to be up there with the best in the world, but leadership has not allowed Africa to grow'. Khama, who bagged the Democracy Icon Award, implored African leaders to focus on working for the people. 'We should look at our failures and successes so that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past. Many countries have the opportunities to succeed and grow but the leadership has been the challenge'.

The African Heritage Concert and Awards is a flagship event of the Heritage Times HT designed to celebrate and honour African trailblazers, icons and advocates for good governance who have promoted the continent's advancement, whilst creating narratives of a better Africa.

Some of the awardees at the event include: Mrs. Joyce Banda – former President of Malawi, Hon. Kenneth Lusaka – Governor of Bungoma County, Kenya, Dr. Benson Bana – High Commissioner of Tanzania to Nigeria, Victoria Nalongo Namusisi – Director, Bright Kids Uganda, Mrs. Temi Giwa-Tubosun – CEO, LifeBank, amongst others.