This, in his view, will allow the free movement of goods and services which will eventually lead to economic growth.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xLVPMjUowUAHhHo3z0JzlwPiZsFWNtPk”]The former President believes the move will also curtail irregular migration and its associated challenges as is being witnessed in Libya.

“Ghana has great potential. We have abo one-third d of the world’s mineral resources. We have 400 million hectares of the world’s available arable lands and so can you imagine if 50 percent of this arable lands are under cultivation, we will not only feed Africa, we will probably feed the rest of the world but certainly one thing that is in our hand is the low value of trade among ourselves. The difficulty of opening up our borders to trading among ourselves is just one that cannot be understood..If we must remove some of the challenges Africa faces then let us open our borders and allow our people to move freely, allow goods and services to move freely across the continent.

“Democracy has seen a return to growth, but I believe the growth is not fast enough to keep ahead of the rate of population, but if we don’t accelerate the pace of economic growth and throw up the essential jobs that will keep the youth engaged then we will have the kind of situation where our young people will be struggling to cross the sahara and being auctioned as slaves like in Libya, where people are trying to cross the Mediterranean, and so in that regard, we need to look at how we manage our economies” he said.

He was speaking in Pretoria, South Africa, at an Expert Seminar to commemorate the adoption of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

The Experts’ seminar is being organized by the African Union and the South African Government to commemorate the 10th year of the adoption of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG).

 AU’s strong stance on Zimbabwe commendable 

The Former President also lauded the African Union’s contribution in ensuring an incident-free power transfer in Zimbabwe.

According to Mr. Mahama, the AU’s “strong stance against unconstitutional changes of government including the suspension of membership and other sanctions have been effective in turning the tide of coup d’états in Africa.”

As part of the activities, the former president will also join South African President, Jacob Zuma, to open the 6th High-Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance in Pretoria.

The dialogue will focus on how to “Enhance Youth Participation and Representation in Governance in Africa.”

–

By: AJ Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post African countries must open borders to trade – Mahama appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Senator Roy Blunt said cash for the wall would be left out of a spending bill that must pass by 28 April to avert a partial government shutdown.

His remarks came on Tuesday after Mr Trump requested a supplemental funding bill to include money for the wall along with military programmes.

But Mr Blunt signalled Mr Trump’s request could complicate negotiations.

“All of the committees, House and Senate leaderships, are working together to try to finalise the rest of the FY17 bill,” said Mr Blunt, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and his party’s leadership.

“My guess is that comes together better without the supplemental.”

He added that the supplemental funding could be dealt with “at a later time”.

Mr Trump had proposed $1.5bn (£1.2bn) for his wall through Congress as part of the spending bill, which funds federal agencies to the end of the current fiscal year.

But Democrats have threatened to block the bill if money for the controversial wall is included.

The government would shut down some federal agencies at midnight on 28 April if Congress is unable to pass the spending bill.

But the plan has faced resistance from both Democrats and Republicans, and has been estimated to cost as much as $21.6bn – more than the price tag the president cited as $12bn.

Republicans are under pressure to keep the government running after they failed to secure a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday said Republicans would not try to remove federal funding for women’s healthcare provider Planned Parenthood in the upcoming bill.

Democrats had also vowed to stop the critical bill if the provision was included.

Mr Ryan added that it would be best accomplished on legislation at a later date.

The president’s wall setback comes as the US Department of Homeland Security pushed back a deadline for proposals to build the wall.

The deadline on Wednesday has been changed to 4 April, the department confirmed on Tuesday.

About 20 companies will be selected after the 10-page proposals are submitted on 4 April.

The federal government will then ask a final group of contenders to build prototypes at a meeting in San Diego, California.

–

Source: BBC

The post Trump border wall funding facing delay appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.