{"id":25200,"date":"2026-02-06T09:27:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/?p=25200"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:27:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:27:40","slug":"africa-is-trapped-mahama-warns-of-a-triple-dependency-pandemic-in-historic-zambia-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/06\/africa-is-trapped-mahama-warns-of-a-triple-dependency-pandemic-in-historic-zambia-address\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Africa is trapped\u2019: Mahama warns of a \u2018triple dependency\u2019 pandemic in historic Zambia address"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a powerful address to the National Assembly of Zambia today, Thursday, February 5, 2026, President John Dramani Mahama issued a stern warning to the continent, declaring that Africa is currently battling a &#8220;pandemic of unfulfilled potential&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to a packed house of Zambian lawmakers on the second day of his three-day state visit, President Mahama lamented that many African nations remain shackled by what he termed a &#8220;Triple Dependency&#8221;\u2014a condition he argues fundamentally undermines the sovereignty won by the continent&#8217;s founding fathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Mahama identified three critical areas where African nations are losing their grip on self-determination:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Security Choices: Dependence on external global actors for defence and stability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social Systems: A reliance on donors to fund essential health and education sectors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Critical Minerals: Exporting raw wealth while importing finished goods, capturing little to no value for local populations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis condition undermines genuine sovereignty,\u201d President Mahama declared. \u201cAfrica faces a different pandemic\u2014the pandemic of unfulfilled potential. Millions of our young people remain unemployed, health systems are fragile, and economies extract wealth without building capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The President utilised the platform to advocate for the Accra Reset Initiative, a strategic framework he recently championed at the World Economic Forum in Davos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He clarified that the initiative is not a call for isolationism but a demand for &#8220;pragmatism and transparency&#8221; in how Africa engages the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initiative seeks to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Leverage Comparative Advantages: Using Africa&#8217;s vast mineral and agricultural wealth for industrial growth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Forge New Partnerships: Moving away from traditional aid models toward investment-driven syndicates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leverage Digitalisation: Utilising tech and fintech to connect African markets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>President Mahama reminded the Assembly that while the previous generation secured political independence, the current generation must win the &#8220;battle for economic transformation&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHistory teaches us that a crisis can sharpen resolve. Africa must take its destiny into its own hands. We must reset the narrative through unity of action, self-reliance, and the leveraging of our comparative advantages,\u201d he urged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The President noted that this &#8220;Reset&#8221; is urgent because the traditional multilateral systems are under strain, with global humanitarian assistance shrinking and defence spending rising due to tectonic shifts in geopolitics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He insisted that the era of &#8220;development-as-usual&#8221; is over, and Africa must transition from being a passive participant to an active architect of its own economic future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>source: myjoyonline.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a powerful address to the National Assembly of Zambia today, Thursday, February 5, 2026, President John Dramani Mahama issued a stern warning to the continent, declaring that Africa is currently battling a &#8220;pandemic of unfulfilled potential&#8221;. Speaking to a packed house of Zambian lawmakers on the second day of his three-day state visit, President [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25202,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25200\/revisions\/25202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fawefmonline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}