Afrika in Focus Special: The Year 2024 in review Part II featuring Ghana. Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso

This week's edition of Afrika n Focus continues our review of 2024.  We begin with events in Ghana that concluded with the  dramatic 2024 elections, where the New Patriotic Party (NPP) experienced a huge defeat. The opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), rose to prominence with an unprecedented 56% of the vote, marking the largest victory margin in Ghana's fourth republic. The electoral upset reflects widespread dissatisfaction with the NPP's handling of economic challenges, including power outages, a cost of living crisis, and economic mismanagement. Despite the emergence of new political entities like the New Force Movement and the Movement for Change, the electorate remains anchored to traditional political forces, signalling a reluctance to embrace a third-party alternative.

As the podcast unfolds, we expand our focus beyond Ghana to explore a broader wave of transformation sweeping across the Sahel region. This area, which includes countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea Bissau, is experiencing a revolutionary spirit aimed at reclaiming economic sovereignty. Leaders such as Ibrahim Traore are taking bold steps to overturn the legacy of Western economic control, focusing on reclaiming natural resources and empowering local communities. The episode highlights how these countries are dismantling colonial-era economic agreements, repaying debts, and regaining control over valuable resources. This movement is more than a political shift; it's a spiritual reawakening and a resolute pursuit of Afrikan self-determination.

One of the pivotal moments in this Sahelian revolution is the rejection of the French Francophone Agreement. This colonial-era pact allowed France to siphon wealth from African nations, but the current leadership in Mali and Burkina Faso is reclaiming their natural resources and redirecting wealth to benefit the local populace. By investing in agriculture and supporting local farmers with land, machinery, and organic seedlings, these nations are addressing land ownership disparities and striving for food self-sufficiency. The determination to break free from economic dependency underscores a broader narrative of self determination across the Sahel.

Furthermore, we examine the strategic alliances these countries have embarked upon. The Alliance of Sahelian States (AES) represents a military and economic pact that underscores the unity and collective strength of these nations. By creating a common passport and discussing the establishment of a single currency backed by gold, these countries are taking concrete steps towards greater economic integration, REAL independence and self determination.

Chapters

• 0:04 Ghana's Election Results and Economy
• 20:04 African Revolution in Sahelian States

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to this week's edition of Ghana African Focus with myself Kwame, specifically, ghana, mali, burkina Faso and Niger. So that is the theme for this week's podcast Review of the year 2024, part two. We're looking at Ghana and then the Trinity of Mali, niger and Burkina Faso. So before we get into this week's podcast, just to make you aware that if you like what you hear, please share to your friends, family, social media networks, subscribe to Ghana Africa and focus on YouTube. I want to get as many subscribers as we can, so subscribe to YouTube and also hit the notification bell, meaning that every time I upload a new podcast, youtube will notify you of that, also on Spotify as well. Just look out for Ghana Africa in Focus on Spotify. Then click the follow button, meaning that every time I put a podcast, spotify will notify you. So if I've got 550,000 on Spotify, thank you very much for all those who are following me and also subscribe to Ghana Africa in folks on Spotify, all right? So, uh, let's get into, uh, the podcast looking about the year in review, 2024, part two, looking at Ghana, and then also developments, the big developments going on in Mali, burkina Faso and Niger. Alright, so we start with Ghana.

Speaker 1: 2:06

So it's been a very, very difficult year in Ghana, as you are aware, if you've been listening to my podcast throughout the year 2024, and also if you're a regular listener to Ghana Advocating Focus. So this year in Ghana, culminating in the election I'll talk about that in a minute, but in the flat 24, we've had the cost of living crisis in Ghana. We've also had the power outages in Ghana and they continue right now as we speak, difficulties with the economy and many people find it hard to live in Ghana, to the extent that you know, a lot of Ghanaians, particularly in the last two to three years, have left the country to Ghana, you know. Added to that, you know, as I reported earlier on in the year, a lot of big companies have left Ghana due to the high cost of doing business and also the high interest rates and also the economy as it is right now. And added to that you know, the bond issue, the pensions you know part of the debt restructuring has also hit many Ghanaians, particularly the sort of middle to upper class who have bought government bonds and also those who have pensions as well. So it's been a very, very difficult year in Ghana.

Speaker 1: 3:36

So all this, you know, leading up to the December 7 elections and there were some concerns, particularly amongst the opposition parties, that the ruling party, the MPP, would actually rig the election. And you know there are plans to actually rig the elections to ensure that the MPPP retained power. But, the Almighty and the ancestors being so good, it didn't matter what NPP did. They were predetermined to lose the election because of everything that I've just mentioned in terms of the economy, the cost of living crisis, the power outages, the lack of employment for our young people, the debt restructuring issue, whereby people had their pensions cut and their bonds cut as well. All that was a backdrop to this election season and, as we saw in the election itself, the MPP took a massive defeat. In actual fact, the NDC victory was the biggest margin in the fourth republic, so the NDC opposition won 56 percent of the vote. The ruling party, mpp, won about 42% to 43% of the vote and the smaller parties, you know, basically hardly registered.

Speaker 1: 5:14

I mean, the third largest party from the point of that way within the Ghana election cycle or sphere was Nana Khameneame Bediakon New Force Movement, cheda, but he only got, you know, something in the region of 25,000 votes out of an election of 18 million votes. So what Cheda got is less than 1% and in actual fact it's a quarter, 1% of the total votes that were counted on December 7th, december 8th. So that tells us right that Ghana, yeah, despite what they may say, what they may think, ghanaians are not ready for a third force. Even Alan Chamateng and his Movement for Change, butterfly Movement, they think they came fourth with something like about 7,000 votes within the region of that. So it proves that Ghanaians are not ready for a third party. Yeah, and I think in Crimea, cpps even didn't have any votes. So, you know, the former party, or the party of of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, you know, needs a massive rebuild and I don't know what's going to happen to that party. It could, it could disappear into oblivion. But yeah, like I say, guyanese are not ready for a third force.

Speaker 1: 6:46

And so there was, you know, massive, massive, you know swing to the NDC, even Ashanti region, which is the stronghold of the NPP. The NDC got a staggering 34%. Now, that's never happened before in any election in Ghana. Yeah, so the fact that NDP got 34% of the vote in the NDP's, you know, big stronghold, proves two things. That one, you know, mpp supporters, some of them deserted MPP and voted for NDC. And that two that a lot of MPP supporters stayed at home. So, rather than vote for any of the opposition parties or vote for the NDC, they stayed at home and that showed the discontent that became apparent on election day. But this discontent has been brewing for many, many months with the wanting corruption and the issue of the finance minister, kenneth Ofriata and his mismanagement of the economy. These things led to many hardcore MPP members staying at home and not voting at all, while some, you know, voted the NDC and also even the eastern region, which is the home of the president, the eastern region. In the NDC, the opposition got 48%. Yeah, it was neck and neck with the NPP. So that tells you that the NPP suffered a massive defeat because in your two biggest strongholds, asante and Eastern Region, if the NDC got, you know, massive votes in those two strongholds, that is proof that, a, a lot of people who were MPP didn't vote, stayed at home, and also, b, that a lot of MPP supporters switched at the last minute to the NDC.

Speaker 1: 8:58

And so you know MPP suffered a massive, massive election defeat. And you know there are many people saying that. You know it is Akufo's fault. You know it is this person's fault, that person's fault, but at the end of the day, the buck stops with the parents of Ghana. Yeah, and he's the leader, or was the leader, of the MPP before Mahmoud Balmia became the flag bearer, I think around about September time, to lead the party.

Speaker 1: 9:32

So the current president, nana Addo Akufo-Addo, has a lot to answer for in terms of this massive defeat by the MPP and even to the extent that MPP lost a lot of MPs. So I think in the parliamentary elections, yeah, the NDC has got a two-fifth majority. They've got a whopping 185 seats in the 275 parliament of Ghana. So this is a crushing blow for the NPP and a crushing victory for the NDC. So many Ghanaians were sick and tired essentially of the NPP, mpp, scott Duggan and Shanigans and voted massively for the NDC and even the swing voters. Because in regions like the Central Region, the Western Region, greater Accra and even the Bono areas, like Bono East, bono West and Athol, which are traditionally the Bono areas, like Bono East, bono West and Hathor, which are traditionally, you know, pro-npp, all those areas that I've just mentioned turned green because of NDC.

Speaker 1: 10:50

So showing that there was a massive discontent with the leadership in Ghana and Mahama is now the president of Ghana, and so, in a way, I do feel sorry for NEC Mahama, because MPP are going to hand over a very, very terrible economy, like I mentioned record inflation, record interest rates, a massive cost of living crisis. You know a country that has got huge debt, yeah. A country that's got a power crisis within the electricity sector yeah, there are many, many. You know you've got a currency that has basically lost about 25% of its value in the last three years. So you've got an economy which is virtually on its knees, if not had its knees taken out. And so the first budget of the incoming NDC government will be run about end of March, early April 2025. Will be run about end of March, early April 2025. And that would be, for me, a litmus test as to which direction the NDC goes, because the budget will be, you know, a huge marker, gives a huge marker of where the NDC is going to take Ghana in the next four years Because, don't forget, ghana is still in the last stages of an IMF program.

Speaker 1: 12:23

So that program started in 2023, 2024, 2025 and finished in 2026. There are even rumours that the NDC may want to even extend the tenor of this IMF programme to maybe 2027, even 2028. Which is basically the life of the next parliament. That begins, by the way, on January 7th 2025, when John Jumaane Mahama becomes President of Ghana. That's when the new parliament takes place, and so, you know, the NDC is going to inherit a shambles and inherit an economic mess, and we wish the NDC the best of luck because they'll need a lot of luck because Ghana, you know, this MPP government under Akufo-Adobamia has basically left Ghana literally on its knees. Yeah, so that explains what's happening in Ghana this year and what the elections outcome was about and how it manifested itself and why it did.

Speaker 1: 13:38

And I think MPP got to do a lot of soul searching and ask themselves what did you do that went wrong? Well, you know, you mismanaged the economy for one and then you looted, yeah, a lot of money that should be used for public development, yeah, and development of the country. And so, uh, the MPP needs to do a lot of source searching in order to, you know, find itself as a ruling force again. And you know, we all saw the nepotism and the corruption that happened during the MPP parliamentaries. There are some quarters that are saying that this parliament should be scrapped and this parliament should be basically card-bearing members, not any delegates. So you know the MPP have got a lot of social searching to do over the next year or so and you know NDC.

Speaker 1: 14:33

My message to them is that do not squander. You've got a historic opportunity. The people of Ghana have given you a massive mandate, an absolute massive mandate. Do not squander this historic opportunity because if you do, the way Ghanaians voted to get MPP out will be the same way Ghanaians will vote you out in 2028. And so I'll be humble and create vote you out in 2028.

Speaker 1: 15:00

And so I'll be humble and create policies that are pro the ordinary Guinean, not the elite, not those who are affluent, but the ordinary Guinean, the person who is struggling to make a meet, the teacher, the nurse, the doctor, the ordinary worker in the factory, the ordering government worker. Yeah, if you put policies that are, you know, for interviews, constituents, and also policies that will build up ghana business businesses, indigenous ghanaian businesses. Yeah, because right now there's a lack of ghanaese businesses in Ghana. All the businesses that are like Chinese, indian, lebanese and other European nationals and other Arab nationals. Guyanese don't really have a lot of businesses, apart from a couple of sectors. And so if the NDC is able to, you know, create policies that engender Guinean businesses, yeah, and that also helped the ordinary man and woman, ie by cutting some of these taxes, like the betting tax, like the COVID levy tax, like the E-Levy tax, like the emissions tax, if MDC, in its first budget, if a March, april of next year, if they remove some of the taxes, then you know, they go in the right direction and people will, you know, look favourable upon them. But if they don't, yeah, and they, you know they mess up. Then the same fate that saw the NPP is the same fate that will await NDC in 2028. And one thing that many Ghanaians haven't been advised on is that people are saying, oh, if Mahama and NDC get rid of these taxes, it's going to lose something like 22 to 25 billion Ghana cities. And how are they going to fill that hole? Well, I can give you two examples of how they can fill that hole.

Speaker 1: 17:10

Every year in Ghana, the Auditor General does the report of Ghana public sector. And did you know, particularly to my Ghana audience that every year, the public sector in Ghana loses the equivalent of $2.5 billion a year because of corruption and also, you know, procurement mismanagement within the system? Yeah, $2.5 billion. Also, do you know that illegal gold smuggling out of Ghana cost Ghana 5 billion US dollars a year? And we know some big men are behind this illegal smuggling, along with their Indian and Chinese counterparts. Now if you add $5 billion of gold smuggled illegally out of Ghana, you add that to $2.5 billion that is lost annually because of corruption and theft in the public sector. That is $7.5 billion. Let's call it $7 billion public sector. That is $7.5 billion. Let's call it $7 billion. Times that by right now it's about 14 cities to a US dollar. So times 7 by 14, that's 98 billion Ghana cities that Ghana will be earning if it stopped the corruption in the public sector and also stopped the um, the and stopped the illegal gold smuggling that is going on in Ghana. And so you know this thing about Ghana will lose money if the COVID levy, e-levy taxes, betting taxes, are scrapped. Ghana will not lose money because, like I said, that is just £22 billion, right? Just suppose that with £98 billion as a result of public sector and also the, the gold smuggling out of Ghana. So NDC can actually ensure that Ghana does not lose out if these taxes are abolished by its incoming finance secretary in next year's budget, and the budget, like I said, I'm finally on this the budget, like I say, will be I'm finally on this the budget, like I say, will give us a very, very important marker as to where the NDC will take Ghana in the next four years. So that's Ghana, and I hope that 2025 will be a better year for Ghana than it has been over the last 23 years.

Speaker 1: 20:04

Now we move on to developments in Guinea, burkina Faso, mali and Niger. Now, these four African countries is part of the African revolution that started in 2020 when Mali freed itself from white dictatorial rule, in this case, under the French Francophone Agreement. Now, again, I made a podcast, I think last year it was last year called why the French Must Leave Africa, and in that I told you about the wicked colonial agreement that these 14 African countries were forced to go into by the French. Yeah, that meant that France, under this agreement, could take 95% of all of the resources, all of the wealth, yeah, that these 14 African countries have into their treasury. Yeah, that these 14 African countries have into their treasury. Yeah, so this theft by the French that allows the French to steal literally steal more than 2.5 trillion euros a year out of Africa is why you saw the youth uprise in those countries, like in Mali, like in Guinea-Bissau, like in Niger and Burkina Faso, which has led to a swathe of uprisings in those four countries over the last three to four years. And so you know, these countries Mali, burkina Faso, niger, guinea-bissau are now taking their destiny into their own hands, and I'm going to tell you some very, very interesting developments that have happened this year as a result of this African spiritual uprising. Yeah, it's not cool, I call it an African spiritual reawakening uprising. Yeah, because these great leaders, like Ibram Traore, who's the main man in Burkina Faso and who appears to be the main leader of these four African countries that have broken away, yeah, it's been a reawakening by the ancestors and by the Most High, by the most high, the almighty god. Yeah, to awaken those falcons, in particular the youth in those four countries in particular. That's led to this spiritual reawakening that we see in those countries. And so let's, let's, let's, you know, talk about some of the developments in those countries.

Speaker 1: 22:47

Did you know that both Mali and Burkina Faso have paid back their debt? So the debt that was accumulated because of this wicked French colonial agreement. Did you know that they paid their debt? So the debt that they owe the western banks, the IMF, the international financial committee, etc. They pay back what they own. So, burkina Faso, ibrim Chahore he's paid 5 billion US dollars back to these western financial companies in Mali. The leader there can't forget his name at the moment, but I'll get 5 billion US dollars back to these Western financial companies in Mali. The leader there can't forget his name, but I'll get I'll. It'll be in the fullness of the podcast.

Speaker 1: 23:33

The leader of Mali has paid Mali's debt and they've been able to do this, and Niger is on the way of doing that as well. And they've been able to do this because they have now taken control of their God-given resources. So, under this wicked French colonial agreement and you can get that in the podcast, just look in the archives where France literally owned all the resources in those countries, these countries are now saying that we now own our own resources. So all the gold in those countries. These countries are now saying that we now own our own resources. So all the gold in Mali, all the gold in Burkina Faso, all the oil in Mali, all the oil in Burkina Faso, all the diamonds, the gold, the lithium, the cobalt, the copper, the iron ore is now owned by African countries, not France or the European countries. And so, because they've regained control of their natural mineral resources and these resources do not belong to the elite, they belong to the people on the ground, and this is the mantra of Ibn Majdari that they've used those resources, the wealth of the country, not to buy luxury cars, not to buy luxury planes, not to buy, you know, luxury yachts, not to buy, not to put the money you know, in Western bank accounts, but they've used that money for the benefit of the people, by repaying back the debt that was imposed on them by the French. So that's a great thing that's happened in Africa, these four African countries taking back control of their natural minerally rich resources.

Speaker 1: 25:19

Now, again, another development that you may not be aware of in all these countries, these four countries, again, agriculture, the agriculture base of these countries. Africa is an agrarian society, with land everywhere, and it's a shame that our land has been hijacked by non-Africans. So I've talked about North Africa. North Africa, you knowgypt, morocco, libya, tunisia, algeria. Our land has been hijacked by caucasian arabs. Yeah, now you look to the south and east of africa. So botswana, namibia, south africa, mozambique, yeah, whereby White farmers Are now Encouraging to Mozambique, kenya, india, zimbabwe, all that area of southern East Africa. Right, the land, a lot of the land, now is in white hands.

Speaker 1: 26:22

Yeah, so there's a agenda whereby the European, the Arab and Chinese and Indians are coming into Africa and buying large tracts of land and what that is doing is making our people landless, stateless and, more importantly, don't have food to grow. So, knowing this, what Ibrahim Chouhary and the other leaders have? Invested a lot in agriculture. So, for example, what's happening in Burkina Faso is that Ibrahim Chouhary has given you know people who want to go into farming, you know tractors, oven machinery, you know organic seedlings and that kind of thing to farmers that if you want to grow food, here's the land and we'll give you seedlings and we'll give you the machinery to help boost your farm or your plot of land that you've got. Yeah, so this year, the leaders of Mali, burkina Faso, niger and Guinea-Bissau they spent a combined 10 billion US dollars on developing the agriculture based in their own countries. 10 billion dollars meaning that these countries understand that in order, or the basic thing of nation building is that a nation has to feed itself. A nation that cannot feed itself will sooner or later die. So, rather than depending on importation from outside forces and the food that they bring to us isn't that good because it contains a lot of chemicals and antibiotics and steroids these four brave African leaders have invested in their own people, in their own farmers. Yeah, and that's a no-brainer, that is a win-win situation.

Speaker 1: 28:26

Again, another development that is going on in those four countries they formed an alliance called the AES, which basically means Sahelian Alliance. So it's a bit similar to what Nkrumah did in the Casablanca group before the so-called OAU-63. Yeah, and within that AES, the Alliance of Sahelian States, they said touch one, touch one, touch one, touch all. So there's a military pact that they signed between the four countries, because ECOWAS, which for me is a toothless dog, it's become a western neo-puppet. They wanted to invade one of those countries. Yeah, to show that ECOWAS has got tooth or got teeth or other.

Speaker 1: 29:16

But the ordinary African public within West Africa did not want bloodshed on their front door. So they told the Equus chairman at the time, nigeria's Tinibu, that you don't you dare send our troops to fight a war which is not of our making. We don't want any war. Yeah, and Ibn Churay said if you touch one of our countries, right, then you got the whole, you got a lot of us. So if you touch Burkina Faso, you also touch Mali, niger and Guinea-Bissau. If you touch Niger, you got Guinea-Bissau, mali and Burkina Faso. And so this has sent a strong message to the defunct and meaningless Akawas that the time for Akawas days are numbered. Yeah, and various folklings have left Akawas and have formed the Alliance of Sahelian States AES. And so this is a fantastic development that has taken place this year.

Speaker 1: 30:18

Again, you know, they've actually introduced a passport for those four countries. Yeah, a microchipped e-passport, making travel, tourism and doing business within the four countries very, very much easier. So, rather than get a visa yeah, rather than get, you know, all these passports whatever they've linked everything together and you have now one passport where you can travel anywhere in those four countries. No visa, no charges, no discharge. No, no hidden charges, hidden costs. You've got e-passport. A AES e-passport gives you the license to go to any of these four countries, and for me that's a great development, because Africa is beyond borders. Africa is living on borders that were created by non-Africans. Yes, so we Africans didn't create the borders, so the borders that you see in Africa today were not created by ourselves. It was created by the enemy, the European, in the 1884-1885 Billion Congress. Yeah, and so this is a fantastic achievement that these leaders have done by creating a common passport for the four countries.

Speaker 1: 31:40

And finally, when we look at development now, there's two things before I wrap on this. Firstly, there's talk of a single African currency, the Cepha, and they're going to use gold to back up that currency. So, as far as I'm aware, I think Burkina Faso and Mali and Niger are going to complete their gold factories early 2025. Now, once that's done, that'll be a game changer and that will allow these countries to use their gold to back up the currency that they're going to launch, hopefully, if not 2025, then 2026. This will be a game changer because that will mean, now more than ever, that these four countries have the military power as well as the economic power to pursue agendas that they want to pursue, while they pursue agendas that the European, the Asian, the Chinese want to allow them to pursue. And lastly, on this, we're noticing great developments going on in terms of infrastructure, in terms like there's meant to be this great road that links the four countries and also a train network that's going to link Burkina, mali, niger and Guinea-Bissau. So that's something to look out for in 2025, where these four African countries are taking their destiny into their own hands.

Speaker 1: 33:03

And we know that the European has tried to kill Ibrahim Thurawi at least 10 times, also tried to kill the leader of Guinea-Bissau, tried to kill the leader of Mali, tried to kill the leader of Guinea Bissau, tried to kill the leader of Mali, tried to kill the leader of Niger. Why? Because the African emancipation project, what these four countries are embarked upon, is not in the interest of the West. In actual fact, it is an aftermath to the West, and they hate the fact that African leaders now are not becoming the corrupt you know, greedy officials that they thought that they were, but you've got these four young men, spearheaded by Ibn Choray, who are now taking matters into their own hands and taking the destiny of their people into their own hands, and this is something that the West do not like. This is why Ibn Choway is on death list, and so do other leaders, because the Europeans have never wanted the African, like Kwame Nkrumah says, to manage his own affairs. They always wanted us to be in a sub-servant position, a position of servitude, and these four African leaders are saying no. The time for slavery, the time for being servants, is done. We are now taking our destiny into our own hands and in 2025, we look forward to some more great developments by these four countries, and we also hope that other countries like Senegal and others join the AES, because we don't need bricks, we don't need the G20.

Speaker 1: 34:43

All Africa needs is to come together as our markers. God has told us and what Dr Kwame Nkrumah told us. Come together and form one big African bloc whereby Africa can be on the table of international affairs. And so I thank you for listening to this edition of African Focus. 2024 has been a very, very interesting year across the continent. I believe that 2025 will be no different. So watch out for events in Kenya with Ruto. Watch out for the African Vesalarian Alliance, these four great countries, watch out for developments in Ghana and other countries. 2025 promises to be a very, very fascinating year for African people, and so for myself, kwame and for all the crew here, I'm Ghana in Focus, on Africa in Focus.

Speaker 1: 35:37

Thank you very much for listening. Over the last year, we've had a lot of great feedback. We've also grew the podcast, about 40% from last year. So thank you to everyone who's subscribed to Ghana and Africa in Focus, everyone who's liked the shows, everyone who's contributed to you know, whether it's by commenting on the podcast, by sending your comments on DMs, whatever thank you very much for taking time out to listen to Ghana African Focused Podcast and we continue for your support as we enter 2025. And so this is it for myself and from the crew. Our first podcast of 2025 will be at the end of January, I think January 27th, and we'll have something lined up for you. We've got also a lot of great interviews lined up, a lot of great features and a lot of great content coming for you in 2025. So from myself, Kwame, and for more of the crew here on Ghana Advocating Focus, it's thank you for listening and have a fantastic 2025.