Africa Cannot Keep Begging for Aid — Mahama Urges Self-Reliance and Unity

President John Dramani Mahama has called on African leaders to end the continent’s long-standing dependence on foreign aid and take greater responsibility for driving its own development.

Reflecting on his address to the Zambian Parliament on Thursday, February 6, the President said Africa must urgently chart a self-sustaining path as humanitarian assistance continues to decline globally.

“Humanitarian assistance has gone down. Africa cannot continue going cup in hand begging for that kind of support. We need to pull ourselves together,” he said in an interview with Joy News on Friday.

President Mahama explained that his speech in Zambia was deliberately designed to challenge African leaders to rethink the continent’s development model and embrace the principles of the Accra Reset, which promotes unity, regional cooperation, and collective action.

“I chose to give a speech that rallies Africa together based on the objectives of the Accra Reset so that we can come together and make collective decisions,” he stated.

According to him, Africa’s future lies in deeper collaboration, particularly in trade, natural resource management, and coordinated economic planning. He argued that stronger regional partnerships would help stabilise economies, enhance the continent’s global bargaining power, and reduce dependence on external support.

President Mahama emphasised that self-reliance and unity are essential for Africa to break free from aid dependency and take full control of its economic and developmental trajectory within the global system.