Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has raised concerns over Africa’s growing exclusion from the global digital and technological revolution, calling for urgent steps to redefine the continent’s identity and control its own narrative.
Speaking at the high-level media forum held at the Alisa Hotel in Accra by the Africa Media Bureau on Friday, September 26, the former President lamented Africa’s continued reliance on external systems, languages, and narratives, despite growing initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“Poor Africa so far has tended to be defined from outside. We are still seeking our identity,” Kufuor said. “We talk about AfCFTA, but it tends to be just talk. Meanwhile, digitalisation and global technology are evading us.”
He pointed out that while conversations around platforms and digital innovation are becoming common, the actual control and development of these technologies often remain in the hands of non-Africans.
“You go to any village, we see these things, we talk about platforms – but how many are managed and driven by us?” he asked. “We are still locked into the blinkers of colonialism.”
Kufuor also criticised the lingering colonial divisions that continue to fragment the continent along linguistic lines. “We are Anglophone. My cousin in Côte d’Ivoire is Francophone. The next person is Lusophone. We don’t know ourselves,” he said, noting that even among neighbouring countries, there is limited cultural or practical knowledge about one another.
“If you stop someone in Accra to discuss something happening in Nigeria, you’d be lucky if they know anything,” he added.
To address this gap, the former President proposed the creation of a pan-African media agency, headquartered in Accra or any other major African city, to take charge of telling the continent’s own stories — beyond politics.
“If the professional media people can establish a powerful media agency — very African — to tell African stories, not just political, but economic, social, entertainment, trade, industry, I tell you, before long the African in Nigeria, Nairobi, or South Africa [will connect better],” he said.
