Mahama challenges Africa to remove ‘new borders’

President John Dramani Mahama has identified religious intolerance, economic disparity, gender discrimination, xenophobia, terrorism and hatred and fear as the new borders dividing the African continent.

He has, therefore, charged leaders to rise above those borders by erasing them completely.

President Mahama made this observation on Friday, May 22, when he opened the 6th Annual Oxford Africa Conference.

He spoke on the theme: ‘A Continent on the Move: People, Politics & Business across Borders’.

President Mahama observed that there is a gradual erosion of the physical borders created by colonial masters but in their place are “new borders being drawn everyday by religious intolerance, by economic disparity, by gender discrimination, by xenophobia, by terrorism and by hatred and fear.”

He, therefore, recommended that: “The challenge to moving forward is finding new ways to not only cross those borders but also erase them completely.”

President Mahama is among several speakers for the two-day conference being coordinated by the Oxford University Africa Society, the Oxford Business Network for Africa and the Said Business School.

They will help delegates gain a deep understanding and awareness of the power and potential of an interconnected African continent.

President Mahama is expected to meet the British Business Community before returning to Ghana.