Ghana to host Eighth Pan African Congress in October

African governments have been urged to take practical steps to bring their people out of poverty as they unite to build one continent in the struggle of Pan-Africanism.

“We must take practical steps in making Africa what we want it to be. We cannot sustain sovereignty in poverty, we should tell our governments that enough is enough,” Major-General Kahinde Otafiire, Chair of the Pan African Movement, said at the launch of the Eighth Pan African Congress (8th PAC) in Accra on Wednesday.

The congress, which would be hosted in Accra on October 27 to 28, would help galvanise Pan-African efforts towards Africa’s renewal including its total socio-cultural and politico-economic independence, self-reliance and liberation.

The 8th PAC is expected to produce a renewed momentum and mobilisation towards greater unity, solidarity and integration of the African Continent consistent with the African Union’s vision of building an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.

Maj. Gen. Otafiire said Africans, made up of the inhabitants of the continent and descendants in the Diaspora, must all unite and contribute towards making Africa a great continent.

He said there was the need for the current generation to work at preserving the unity and revitalization of the continent as spearheaded by forbearers like Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

“It’s a shame that we have not done well to hold on to the unity of the African Continent,” he said, but expressed the hope that that dream of unity would be achieved some day.

He urged Ghana, as a front-runner on the continent, to lead for the rest of Africa to follow.

Mr Kwasi Quartey, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, on behalf of President John Mahama, launched the 8th PAC, expressing Ghana’s readiness in hosting the congress.

He said the Government of Ghana still held dearly the tenets of Pan-Africanism and so Ghana’s Foreign Policy was still in line with the pan-Africanism systems of belief.

He, however, emphasised the need to push forward the African integration process by putting up the necessary measures that would fasten the process.

Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, Member of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 8th PAC, said the youth and society in general were being engaged in the renaissance and Pan-African Movement agenda.

He said so far the event had not been included in the list of international conferences postponed in the country because of the Ebola scare, saying; “we hope the event will come on at the scheduled dates”.

“The congress is all about the progression and better life for the people of Africa,” Mr Opoku said.

Rabbi Kahain Haleve, Chairman of the Pan African Diaspora Coalition of Ghana, said it was regretful that people thought the African Continent was more important than its people.

He has, therefore, asked the leaders to work to address the issues affecting the people of Africa while the people put value on themselves to prove to the world that “we are more worthy than even our continent”.

Present at the event were members of the diplomatic corps and the Rastsafari community as well as some students.