President John Dramani Mahama has said that Ghana’s economic recovery is inseparable from Africa’s broader transformation, situating it in the “Accra Reset Initiative,” a strategy to shift the continent from foreign aid to prosperous investment.
The Accra Reset Initiative, launched by President Mahama in late 2025, is a new global advancement framework to redefine Africa’s development agenda, built on sovereignty, workability, and shared value to reduce the continent’s reliance on external assistance and systems.
Delivering his 2026 State of the Nation Address before Parliament on Friday, February 27, President Mahama said there was the need for African nations to relate to one another, shifting from fragmentation to integration.
Ghana hosts the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) – a pact aimed at boosting economic integration, increasing trade, and promoting sustainable development.
This is done by creating the world’s largest free trade area with 1.3 billion people across 55 countries and combined Gross Domestic Growth (GDP) of $3.4 trillion.
The President referenced the Health Sovereignty Summit held in Accra, last year, where he underscored the need for African leaders and policymakers to chart a roadmap for financing and collaboration in healthcare for a healthy population and economy.
“No single African country, no matter how well-endowed, can thrive alone in this new global environment. Rather, when we work together, our combined markets, youthful population, natural resources, and creativity will constitute one of the greatest economic opportunities of this century,” he stated.
He called for enhanced continental efforts to dismantle artificial borders, remove bottlenecks, and activate a common market that allowed goods, services, capital, and ideas to move freely across Africa.
President Mahama encouraged his colleague African leaders to have deliberate and disciplined plan to harness the creativity of its young people, strengthen regional value chains, mobilise domestic capital, and speak with a single, coordinated voice in global affairs.
He indicated that Ghana’s recent economic turnaround required consolidation through regional cooperation, identifying AfCFTA as a strategic tool to ensure that Africa’s resources and markets were leveraged for Africans.
Ghana stood ready to rebuild at home while working together with African nations to shape a future defined by shared strength, dignity, and prosperity, President Mahama said, noting the potential of such collaboration as a catalyst for Africa’s collective rise.
“We cannot build lasting prosperity at home without contributing to stability and growth across our continent. Equally, we cannot lead effectively on the continental stage if our own house is not in order,” he said.
He stated that the era ahead demanded that Africa moved from a posture of dependence to one of collective self-reliance by gathering courage to shape its own destiny and build genuine sovereignty across the continent.
“This is how Africa can move from promise to power, from participation to leadership, and from dependence to dignity. The path forward is clear. Africa must rise with confidence, unity, and purpose.”
Source: GNA
