KNII wants trade barriers abolished in Africa

The Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute (KNII) has called on African leaders to immediately abolish trade borders to ensure the free movement of goods and services across the continent.

The KNII noted that the continent could not achieve Unity when its contemporary business men and women could not engage fruitfully in trade amongst themselves.

Mr Benjamin Anyagre, Executive Director of KNII, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said the Institute vehemently disagreed with the actions taken against foreign business retailers especially Nigerians in Ghana.

Mr Anyagre said “Just like a Ghanaian can move from Eastern Region to Savannah Region to trade and do commerce and even decide to acquire a property and settle there by the laws of Ghana, that should be the case in any part of Africa”.

According him, Africans were one people who formed a “Nation-State like Ghana” adding that therefore Africans from various traditional kingdoms should trade freely without restrictions in the interest of the larger community of Africa.

The KNII indicated that the laws of all the countries in Africa should encourage inter and intra trade and industry as espoused by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's founding president.

“Why should we punish ourselves with restrictions detrimental to our own survival and not beneficial to our co-existence, peace and harmony?” he questioned stating that, “We become a laughing stalk when we indulge in some of these discriminative attitude, we are one people, one Africa with one common destiny which manifested before the Berlin Conference of 1884”.

Mr Anyagre observed that having fractions and disagreements surfacing because of such trade barriers would work against the intended goals of locating the headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfFCTA) in Accra.

He said KNII was therefore suggesting that a desk at the AfFCTA should be established to liaise with various African States Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry to ensure a mechanism through the law of arbitration to handle such incidences which he pointed out was not good enough for the image of Africans and the continent.