By Staff Writer:
Outgoing SADC Chairperson President Lazarus Chakwera believes time has now come for African countries to wake up and start demanding for what rightfully belongs to them.
Chakwera said this when he made a Key Note address at the ongoing 42nd SADC Heads of State summit currently underway in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Malawi leader observed that despite Africa boasting of numerous natural and mineral resources the continent has been oppressed for so long but time has now come to put an end to that oppression.
“There is no one outside Africa who is coming to build Africa the way we want it to be built. For this reason, we must create our own pools of development resources. We already have the natural and mineral resources that would be more than enough to finance any project we need in Africa, and no economic bloc is endowed with these resources as SAD C is,” said Chakwera.
Chakwera has since urged African countries to unite and defend what rightfully belongs to them arguing everyone who wants anything from Africa must buy it in a fair trade so that proceeds from such trade activates can be used to build a new Africa that would lift its people from abject poverty.
“With the resources we have we refuse to be anyone’s beggar, and with unity we have, we must refuse to let anyone steal from us or use us to steal from our own people or each other,” said Chakwera.
Chakwera gave an example of the DRC as one country that is still struggling to attain peace and stability due to the selfishness of the western world which is sponsoring the unrest in the gold rich nation.
“The plunder which we have allowed the west to conduct here in DRC is a sin we need to repent of, resolve, and refuse to see repeated anywhere else in the region. So let’s show and tell the world with one voice that Africa is open for business but it is not for sale,” said Chakwera attracting cheers from delegates that have converged for the two day summit.
Chakwera has since handed over the SADC Chairmanship to his DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi who is expected to lead the Southern Africa sixteen nations member bloc for the next twelve months.
