Africans Must Break Impossibility Mindset – Bawumia2 min read

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has diagnosed one of the major problems confronting Africa with a call on Africans to break the shackles of impossibility mindset to transform the continent.

According to him, in order to effect change in the continent, is the vision to use the transformative power of technology.

Speaking on Saturday April 15, 2023 as the Special Guest at Harvard University during the African Development Conference at the Harvard Law School, Dr. Bawumia shared his views on the broader theme of reimagining Africa’s growth on African terms with the gathering made up of students, academics and the business community among others.

In the Vice President’s view, the greatest bane to the development of Africa is Africans inability to solve the basic problems of the absence of unique identity for our population, functioning property address systems, financial inclusion, payment systems, efficient public service delivery, among other which underpin the continent’s economic activities.

“For many years after independence we have been trying to transform our economies without data and transparent systems. Without data and systems African countries cannot participate in the fourth Industrial Revolution,” he pointed out.

Giving reasons for our inability to participate in the fourth industrial revolution, Dr. Bawumia said Africans have for long been shackled by an impossibility mindset which is probably as a result of the experience of years of slavery and colonialism.

He expressed worried that Africans do not believe in ourselves, saying that we don’t believe in ourselves. However, for us to realize our full potential and set ourselves apart we need to break the shackles of impossibility mindset and embrace the mindset of possibility.”

He strongly believes that African countries can do what the advanced countries have done and more if we adopt a possible mindset.

Dr. Bawumia addressed the 2023 edition of the Harvard Africa Development Conference at the Harvard Law School, Cambridge.

As the guest speaker, Dr. Bawumia also spoke on critical issues related to the development of Africa at the conference.

The decision to choose Dr. Bawumia as the main speaker is not surprising, considering his rising profile as a respected emerging African leader, with key international institutions, inviting him to address international conferences

He has earned international plaudits for his leadership spearheaded Ghana’s acclaimed digitalisation drive and other roles.

The Conference is organised annually by the African Caucus of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard African Law Assocation.