Set date for free movement of citizens on the back of AfCFTA - Kojo Yankah

Founder and President of the Africa University College of Communications (AUCC), Kojo Yankah is calling on African leaders to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and “set a date for the free movement of citizens” across the borders of the continent.

In a Facebook post, the illustrious son of Africa, who was once a Minister of state in Ghana, asked “Can we set a date for the free movement of citizens across our borders in the light of Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement?”

AfCFTA is designed to boost trade between the people of Africa mainly through digitalization and also by facilitating free movement of people, goods and services on the continent.

Whereas the building blocks have been established for the realization that vision, there still remain some hurdles such as closed borders and several physical barriers and checkpoints on the major roads that connect countries on the continent, and that has been a major frustration tom intra-continent trade and movement of people and goods.

Kojo Yankah thinks this is because African leaders have not set a deadline for the practical realization of free movement, and he believes the time to do so is now.

He noted that even though he wields an ECOWAS ID Card being referred to as Ghana Card, and he also has an ECOWAS Passport, borders on the continent still remain closed to citizens, while individual countries continue to champion narrow “nationalistic” agendas.

Kojo Yankah said he is personally looking forward to the continent’s Agenda 2063 to get his copy of the Africa Passport but he expects African leaders to take advantage of the AfCFTA to expedite action on truly uniting the continent to allow free movement of citizens sooner.

“Africa Must wake up towards True Unity,” he writes, “We are one”.