September 23, 2026 In WACSI in the News By WACSI
Africa must lead its own development – UK MP
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Accra, Sept. 1, GNA – Africa must take greater control of decisions shaping its development, Ms Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a United Kingdom Member of Parliament, has said.
She said development priorities, resources and measures of success had for too long been determined outside the continent, limiting African ownership of its development agenda.
“If Africa must now be put at the centre, what we are doing is admitting where Africa has been kept until now, at the margins of decisions about her own future,” she said at the opening of the “Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power” convening in Accra.
The three-day gathering brings together African civil society leaders, policymakers, development practitioners and members of the diaspora to examine ways of shifting power, resources and leadership to African institutions and communities.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy said while concepts such as localisation, partnership and community-led development had become common in international development discourse, real decision-making power frequently remained outside Africa.
She said development had too often been done to Africans rather than led by them, with priorities set elsewhere and communities expected to implement programmes they neither designed nor controlled.
“The vocabulary evolves beautifully. The decision-making power, however, stays exactly where it always was,” she said.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on African Reparations, said greater African ownership was neither radical nor symbolic but necessary for achieving meaningful and lasting development outcomes.
A key theme of the conference is the need for Africa to reclaim agency over its political, economic and development future while advancing the continent’s reparatory justice agenda.
Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Ghana’s Presidential Special Envoy for Reparations, said Africa must move beyond participating in global systems to helping shape them.
“For generations, Africa has participated in global political, financial and development systems largely designed elsewhere. But participation is not ownership.
“Africa must therefore move beyond simply seeking a larger seat at the table towards helping to design the table itself,” he said.
Dr Spio-Garbrah said reparations should not be viewed solely as compensation for historical injustices but as a comprehensive framework for addressing structural inequalities that continued to affect Africa.
He said reparatory justice encompassed acknowledgement, apology, cultural restoration, institutional reform, economic justice and psychological healing.
Dr Spio-Garbrah said many of Africa’s contemporary development challenges remained linked to the legacies of slavery, colonial exploitation and unequal global relationships.
He said the continent had a strategic opportunity to translate growing international recognition of reparatory justice into concrete policy commitments and measurable outcomes.
“The moment for action is now. We must convert moral recognition into political commitment, political commitment into institutional action, and institutional action into measurable outcomes,” he said.
Dr Spio-Garbrah also stressed the need for Africa to build its own development architecture through stronger institutions, innovative financing mechanisms and development models rooted in African priorities and realities.
He identified the African diaspora as a strategic partner capable of contributing investment, expertise, innovation and international influence to support development and reparatory justice efforts.
Dr Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), said Africa should not have to seek permission to lead its own development.
“Africa does not need to be invited to the centre of its own development. Africa belongs at the centre,” she said.
Dr Afadzinu said shrinking donor resources, increasing global uncertainty and changing geopolitical realities made it imperative for Africans to rethink who set development priorities, controlled resources and defined success.
“Power is not only about who sits at the table. It is about who sets the agenda, who controls resources, whose knowledge counts and who defines success or failure,” she said.
Dr Afadzinu called for stronger African-led institutions, greater trust in local knowledge and practical commitments that moved beyond dialogue to transformative action.
The conference is expected to examine strategies for advancing African agency, strengthening locally led development, deepening diaspora engagement and promoting reparatory justice across the continent and beyond.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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