The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, says Western institutions and economies cannot be exonerated from their complicity in corruption on the African continent.
He noted that, some actions and inactions of Western leaders contribute to the menace of corruption in Africa.
Okyenhene mentioned that Western leaders have made their countries a safe haven for corrupt politicians and African leaders to hide and enjoy their stolen wealth.
“If I walk to the bank today to deposit $15,000, the teller will take the money and report it to the bank manager. The bank manager will invite me and inquire about the source of the money. But African leaders have their own ways to deposit huge sums in foreign banks without facing probes. Why must it be so?” Osagyefuo questioned.
Delivering a lecture under the theme: “Sustainable Leadership in African Governance” at the School of Management, University of Bradford in the UK, Okyenhene hinted that many African leaders and politicians find ways to deposit huge sums in foreign accounts and invest in real estate businesses abroad without facing scrutiny.
He said Western leaders and their systems must be bold and question these investments by African leaders in their countries.
“Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away His life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.” Osagyefuo preached from the Bible.
Okyenhene called on African leaders to learn that service is the price we pay for the space we occupy.
Touching on climate change and its deadly effects on mankind’s survival, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin expressed disappointment in world leadership.
“I feel the leaders of the great nations that contribute volumes of carbon to damaging the atmosphere are not doing enough. They sit at round tables to drink tea and laugh without concrete solutions to the catastrophic climate change phenomenon,” Osagyefuo noted.
He mentioned that the world is heading toward an apocalypse, indicating that we will soon perish.
He opined that we are all intoxicated with material wealth and warned that if we continue in our insatiable quest to enlarge GDPs, increase shareholders’ value, and build big corporate profits, the consequences will be dire.
He said some of our actions have brought us untold consequences, but with strong leadership, we can repair some of these damages over time, and with the right policies, we can regain nature’s respect.
According to Okyenhene, scientists have warned that hitting net-zero emissions by 2050 is now “too little, too late” and will not achieve the long-term temperature goals identified in the Paris Agreement.
He said we have an arduous task on our hands, and a shift in emphasis toward net-negative emissions using methods like carbon capture and storage is the “only viable option.”
“The global CO2 concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere is currently rising at nearly 419.2 parts per million (ppm). This represents a 47.3% increase since the beginning of the Industrial Age, when the concentration was near 280 ppm, and an 11% increase since 2000, when it was near 370 ppm,” Osagyefuo quoted from research data.
The Kwaebibiremene hinted that if the greenhouse gas emission rate continues this way, it will not take science to predict that by 2040, the air we breathe will contain over 50% carbon dioxide.
He said it is scary to think that the world will soon become uninhabitable.
Osagyefuo noted that this will have a significant impact on our children, leaving them with far shorter lives than today. He emphasized that it cannot be business as usual.
On the topic of sustainable development and indigenous traditional governance, Okyenhene hinted that, long before the invasion of the Westerners in Africa, there existed a rule our forebears lived by, known as the “Rule of Nature.”
Okyenhene noted that under God’s rule, one must live in harmony with one’s environment and not dominate and destroy it.
He said our forebears understood and saw the Earth as a sacred place. They respected and defended that rule.
Osagyefuo further stated that African traditional leaders had indigenous knowledge, which early Europeans did not recognize.
“Because indigenous people didn’t share European ideas about land ownership, they were considered primitive. Since they had no desire to place the sources of their survival (i.e. natural resources) into the stream of commerce, they were viewed as ignorant,” Osagyefuo noted.
He said the hazardous exploitation of our natural resources continues to threaten the survival of mankind.
He called for proper world leadership to save the world and mankind from the dangers ahead.
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