Visa Reciprocity : Africa must speak with one voice
In a global context marked by rising protectionism and hostile rhetoric towards mobility, Africa can no longer remain a spectator. For Wade Adama, Publisher of Financial Afrik, the response must be collective: the creation of a single African visa, a symbol of sovereignty and restored dignity.
By Adama Wade*
The extreme speech delivered by Donald Trump at the United Nations is a striking illustration: the times are defined by protectionism, isolationism, and the triumph of the proponents of the “Great Replacement” theory. Faced with these restrictive policies, Africa’s 54 states can no longer remain passive. They must respond by imposing perfect reciprocity. This is the price to pay to put an end to the double standard when it comes to mobility and human dignity.
Heads of State, if you want Africans to be respected, you must act quickly
Heads of State, if you want Africans to be respected, you must act quickly. Unilateral decisions, taken here and there, serve no purpose. Only collective impact matters. The European Union groups 27 countries into a single visa area. The United States, with its 52 states, issues a single visa. Africa, however, cannot afford the absurd luxury of 54 different procedures.
Let us move beyond the borders inherited from colonization and create the Addis Ababa visa: a continental pass that would impose our conditions on visitors, just as they impose theirs
Let us move beyond the borders inherited from colonization and create the Addis Ababa visa: a continental pass that would impose our conditions on visitors, just as they impose theirs. Only then will mobility become a global cause.
In the 21st century, we should not have to buy a new certificate of emancipation just to move. Enough !
As long as Africans are required to obtain another nationality to travel freely, thousands will continue to attempt crossing the Mediterranean at the risk of their lives. Thousands of executives and civil servants will seek to purchase residences in the United States, Canada, or Europe to escape the condition of being “African”—an assignment to residence that makes a local SME less competitive than a Western company. Billions of African dollars will continue to be invested elsewhere…
It is time to react. It is a duty. In the 21st century, we should not have to buy a new certificate of emancipation just to move. Enough!
*Adama Wade is Publisher of Financial Afrik
