Akufo-Addo launches “Beyond The Return, The Diaspora Dividend” initiative
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Friday launched “Beyond The Return, the Diaspora Dividend” initiative at a brief ceremony in Accra,
The initiative seeks to engage Africans in the diaspora and all persons of African descent more positively in areas such as trade and investment co-operation, and skills and knowledge development.
Speaking at the event at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, President Akufo-Addo recalled proclaiming 2019 as the “Year of Return” 15 months ago at the Washington Press Club in Washington D.C in the United States.
The “Year of Return” commemorates the 400th anniversary of the time the first 20 African slaves arrived at Commonwealth of Virginia, which subsequently became part of the United States of America.
It became the genesis one of the most unfortunate and barbaric episodes of human history – the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
The President noted that “With 75 per cent of the slave dungeons built on the West coast of Africa, through which the slaves were transported, located in Ghana, he stated that the country believed that it had a responsibility to extend a hand of welcome back home to Africans in the diaspora.”
“It was our hope that the ‘Year of Return’ would be a joyful and learning experience all round for all of us on the continent, and our kith and kin from the diaspora, especially in affirming our determination that never again should the African peoples permit themselves to be subjected to such dehumanising conditions, sold into slavery, and have their freedoms curtailed,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo also said, “It has proven, so far, to be just that, with some two hundred thousand (200,000) more visitors taking up the offer to visit Ghana during the year.”
President Akufo-Addo urged diasporans to change the African narrative, which has been characterised largely by a concentration on the disease, hunger, poverty, and illegal mass migration.
“Let us all remember that the destiny of all black people, no matter where they are in the world, is bound up with Africa.
“We must help make Africa the place for investment, progress and prosperity, and not from where our youth flee in the hope of accessing the mirage of a better life in Europe or the Americas,” he said.
That, according to President, is what ‘Beyond the Return’ will seek to do, “to allow the country to derive maximum dividends from our relations with the diaspora in mutually beneficial co-operation, and as partners for shared growth and development”.
Citing the contribution of Chinese diasporans to the growth of China’s economy, President Akufo-Addo noted that when foreign companies, in the late 1970s, reduced their investments in China, it was the Chinese Diaspora that shored up the economy.
The President referred to the Washington D.C. based Migration Policy Institute (MPI), citing that half of the foreign direct investment, specifically $26 billion, which according to President Akufo-Addo has transformed China into a manufacturing powerhouse in the 1990s, originated from the Chinese Diaspora.
“That is why I am excited and keen on this new initiative of “Beyond the Return”, and the renewed enthusiasm around building Africa together. Let us imbibe in ourselves a deep consciousness and understanding of the goals and history of the African peoples,” he said.