By: Sarah Baafi
President John Dramani Mahama has emphasized the urgent need for African countries to take greater control of their natural resources and deepen trade among themselves, as a pathway to economic sovereignty and shared prosperity.
Speaking in an End-of-visit interview at the conclusion of his official state visit to Zambia, President Mahama highlighted key outcomes of his engagements with Zambian authorities, describing the visit as productive and forward-looking.
The President pointed to gold production as a clear example of why Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials. He noted that small-scale mining towns alone account for about 52 tonnes of gold annually, representing nearly half of total production.
“If even half of that gold is refined locally before export, the value we earn increases significantly,” he said. “Refining allows us to extract associated minerals such as silver, nickel and other metals, instead of exporting raw volumes and importing finished products at a higher cost.”
According to President Mahama, exporting unprocessed resources has left African communities impoverished while wealth is generated elsewhere.
“People come, take our resources, eat from them, and leave our people sitting in poverty, watching their wealth travel around the world without meaningful returns,” he said.
He noted that Ghana and Zambia could share experiences and collaborate to promote value addition and strengthen sovereignty over natural resources.
Beyond resource processing, President Mahama stressed that stronger intra-African trade remains central to economic transformation. He observed that although official statistics put intra-African trade between 11 and 15 per cent, the real figure may be higher due to extensive informal cross-border trade, particularly in food commodities.
“In many parts of Africa, people cross borders freely with food items like cassava, potatoes and grains. Much of that trade is not captured in the statistics,” he explained.
President Mahama welcomed the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose Secretariat is based in Accra, describing it as a major milestone. However, he identified three key challenges that must be addressed for the agreement to succeed.
The first, he said, is the harmonisation of standards across African countries. The second is the issue of payments and settlements.
“It makes no sense that Ghanaians must convert cedis to dollars to buy Zambian products, and Zambians must do the same to buy from Ghana,” he noted, adding that the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) is critical to enabling trade in local currencies.
The third challenge, President Mahama said, is infrastructure and logistics, which remain shaped by Africa’s colonial past.
“Our railways and roads were designed to move raw materials to ports for export to Europe, not to link African economies to one another,” he said. “In some cases, it is easier and cheaper to ship goods to Europe than to a neighbouring African country.”
He called for major investments in rail, road and transport networks linking African countries, including routes capable of carrying heavy cargo cheaply and efficiently.
President Mahama revealed that discussions with Zambian officials also focused on practical ways to boost bilateral trade by identifying products both countries already import from outside the continent.
“For example, Ghana imports beef from Argentina and Brazil, yet Zambia has surplus beef. Ghana produces aluminium products, transformers and electrical equipment, why import these from China when we can source them from Ghana?” he asked.
He said developing such targeted import-substitution strategies would help increase trade volumes between Ghana and Zambia while strengthening African supply chains.
President Mahama reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to deepen bilateral cooperation and work together to unlock the full potential of African trade and industrialisation.
