Former UN Senior Government Advisor, Prof Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has described President John Mahama’s speech at the United Nations as the boldest from an African leader in a very long time.
Prof Agyeman-Duah said it was the first time in many years that he had heard an African leader address critical issues at the UN without fear.
He said the speech reminded him of the days of Kwame Nkrumah and other post-independence leaders like Julius Nyerere, who spoke with courage on the global stage.
“When I heard the President’s speech, it reminded me of the early post-independence era when our leaders, Nyerere and Nkrumah, went to the UN and made our case for the world to listen to us,” he said.
He explained that African leaders have, for too long, been timid.
He suggested that this timidity was either due to fear or dependence on foreign powers. “Our hands are in their mouth, so don’t bite them hard,” he said.
Prof Agyeman-Duah praised Mahama for cutting through that silence. He said he was impressed when Mahama declared that if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like one, then it is indeed a duck.
“That really impressed me,” he said.
He pointed to Mahama’s stance on immigration, where he spoke against the way Western countries treat Africans.
He also cited his strong words against international financial institutions, which he said continue to exploit African nations.
“In a nutshell, for me, it was the boldest speech I’ve heard from an African leader in a very, very long time, and I was very pleased with it,” he said.
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