TIPOTEH WRITES PRES. OBAMA -Says Change of Economic System is All Africa Needs Africa’s worsening economic woes amid abundant resources have made this huge land mass on Planet Earth an ideal source of contestation amongst developed nations. The lately emerging world power of China is increasing its influence on the Continent and this is a source of jealousy for other world powers, principally the United States. Despite the competition for Africa’s resources, there is a consensus amongst the world’s economic powers that the peace and stability they need to harvest the continent’s resources would be at risk if the inherit issues of war, poverty, illiteracy and disease on the continent are not simultaneously addressed. There have therefore been conferences held to discuss the twin issues of foreign capital investment and the Continents woes. The latest is being hosted by the United States and also attended by Liberian government delegation led by Vice President Joseph Boikai. Though he’s not invited, Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, former economic adviser and former presidential candidate, has sent a message to the presider of the United States-Africa summit President Barack Obama on his perspective about Africa’s development. The Analyst reports. In an apparent attempt by the United States of America to increase its relationship with Africa, a three-day summit has commenced the Washington D.C., USA, with at least 50 African heads of state in attendance. The summit, according to its planners, will discuss a plethora of burning issues such as security, health, the environment and corruption. Attendees of the summit including Liberia’s delegation are expected to make presentations on their various perspectives on the issues under discussion. Before the discussions started, a renowned Liberian economist, former professor of Economics at the University of Liberia, Togba-Nah Tipoteh had communicated his views to United States President Barack Obama informing him that what Africa needs most is a change in its economic system. In his pre-Summit remarks, President Obama was quoated as calling for the Rule of Law within a democratic setting in Africa. But Dr. Tipoteh told President Obama in the communication that the only way the Rule of Law will prevail in Africa is for Africa to change its economic system. “For Africa to experience Rule of Law in a democratic setting there has to be a change in its economic system from the production of raw materials mainly for export to the production of raw materials mainly for use in Africa,” Dr. Tipoteh said, adding that the present economic system in Africa was used by the colonialists to make themselves richer and African people poorer. Dr. Tipoteh, a three-time presidential contestant, said the colonial economic system is the economic growth without economic development system where, as the economy grows, the masses of the people become poorer while the rich get richer. He indicated to President Obama that after fifty years into the post-colonial era, the African governments continue to use this archaic poverty-generating economic system. Dr. Tipoteh advised President Obama that he, Obama, would be seen to be credible by the African people were he who called for change in the USA began working with the African people for a change in the economic system that still dominates Africa so that the change can bring economic growth with economic development, the sustained improvement in the living standards of the African people. The former Senior UNDP consultant reminded President Obama about the main problems facing the United States’ economy and how he, Obama, is providing leadership to bring it to a better order. Dr. Tipoteh brought President Obamas attention to the fact that he, Obama, has shown his realization of the growth without development syndrome by pushing for growth with jobs. In this realization, Dr. Tipoteh said President Obama knows that not any type of growth is beneficial to society and this is why he, Obama is pushing for growth with jobs, noting that with the nearly 8 per cent rate of unemployment being experienced in the United States economy, he understands the priority that President Obama is giving to growth with employment rather growth for the sake of growth. Realizing that President Obama has expressed great interest in the future of the African youth, as seen in hosting the recent African Youth Forum for some 500 representatives of African youth, Dr. Tipoteh maintained, in his letter, that the new economic system, if placed into existence, would provide the solution for the problem of youth empowerment, through value addition that would open opportunities for African young people to get more and better schooling and training that would lead to income-generation through employment and ownership, with professional and technical expertise of African young people. The SUSUKU leader commended President Obama for naming the Youth Forum the Mandela Forum in the hope that African youths and other youths around the world would follow the example of Madiba Nelson Mandela by a life of service in the struggle for justice, economic development and peace in Africa and in the rest of the world. Concluding his letter to President Obama, Dr. Tipoteh said that changing the poverty-generating economic system in Africa to a system of poverty-reduction is the best way to defeat terrorism and other forms of violence because mass poverty has become principal pretext or main source of widespread violence in Africa and in the rest of the world.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 04:32:43 +0000
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