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 Mr Benjamin William Mkapa, a former President of the United Republic of Tanzania
Mr Benjamin William Mkapa, a former President of the United Republic of Tanzania

End illicit financial flows from Africa - Former Tanzanian President urges leaders

The former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mr Benjamin William Mkapa, has urged African leaders to work hard to end the illicit financial flows from the continent.

He said a report conducted by the leadership of the African Union (AU) some two years ago indicated that the continent annually lost more than US$50 billion through illicit financial flows.

He said the continued depletion of the developmental resources of Africa through illicit financial flows had contributed significantly to the under-development of many parts of the continent.

Mr Mkapa was delivering a lecture at the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale on the theme: “African development: From freedom to union.”

The lecture, dubbed: “African Leadership Lectures (ALL),” seeks to contribute to national and transnational discourse on productive leadership culture that will enhance Africa’s development.

It also aims at creating a forum to inspire innovative leadership initiatives, as well as initiate and stimulate action on constructive leadership in Ghana and Africa.

It was instituted in the university in 2013 under the leadership of the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Haruna Yakubu.

Former heads of states who had been hosted on the ALL programme included Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Festus Mogae, Botswana, Joaquim Alberto Chissano of Mozambique and Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba of Namibia.

Caution

Mr Mkapa cautioned that the huge sums of money that left the continent through illicit financial flows to other parts of the world would continue to ruin the continent's progress if not stopped.

He said such money was lost through the activities of multinational companies, drug trafficking, bribery and embezzlement.

Conflicts

Touching on conflicts, the former Tanzanian leader admonished African leaders to also work hard to end conflicts on the continent.

He said it was time African leaders worked hard in order not to bequeath​ the continued conflicts on the continent to the next generation.

He expressed the worry that over the years, many parts of the continent, including Sudan, Mali, Libya, DRC and Central African Republic, had continued to experience unending violent conflicts.

"We must ensure not to bequeath the burden of conflict to the next generation of Africa," Mr Mkapa charged.

Cooperation

On cooperation to promote development, he said African leaders needed to foster regional cooperation and integration that would promote the interests of the continent.

That, Mr Mkapa said, could be achieved when countries on the continent sacrificed nationalism and embraced continental nationalism.

He, therefore, called on African leaders and nationals to sacrifice their nationalism egos and work towards promoting continental nationalism, for greater freedom for the continent.

He also urged the continent’s leaders to break away from the syndrome​ of being talkatives of ideas and start walking their talk.

Congregation

As part of activities to climax the fifth edition of the ALL initiative, the university conferred a Doctor of Letters Degree on Mr Mkapa for his commitment to fight corruption and dedication to serve people on the continent.

The special congregation also saw a total of 222 graduate students, including six PhD students, graduating from the various disciplines run by the university.

The VC of the school, Professor Gabriel Ayum-Teye, in his address, appealed to the government to give clearance to the university to recruit new lecturers and other senior staff to replace the retired and aging ones in the university.

He said the ban on recruitment was taking a heavy toll on the university as it could not employ new lecturers to run the new courses it had introduced.

He said many of the university's staff had gone on retirement while many others too were getting close to their retiring age.

Prof. Ayum-Teye, meanwhile, expressed worry about the wanton indiscipline in the country.

He said the growing acts of indiscipline orchestrated by individuals and institutions must be checked, to avoid a situation where such acts would threaten national security.

According to him, an indisciplined society produced mentally lazy people who do not contribute anything positive to the development of a country but become a burden on the state.

 

For his part, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Salifu Sa-eed, who represented President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the ALL programme, called on the leadership of the university to establish a peace and security centre in the university to train people to help solve the continued conflicts in the region.

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