Page 185 - Afrika Must Unite

AFRICA MUST UNITE

The Inga project could go a long way towards electrifying the
whole of the African continent.
If the independent states had a united, integrated economic
policy, the building of the Inga dam could be carefully planned
to support an extended industrial growth, catering for a far
larger population. Its cost would, therefore, be economically
spread. This is only a single illustration of what African inte­
grated economic planning might do. Extend it to all sectors of
our economies, and its possibilities are infinite.
I have often been accused of pursuing ‘a policy of the im­
possible’. But I cannot believe in the impossibility of achieving
African union any more than I could ever have thought of the
impossibility of attaining African freedom. W hen I came back
to G hana in 1947 to take a leading part in the anti-colonial
struggle, I was dubbed an ‘irresponsible agitator’. Independence
at that time looked a long way off. None of us really imagined
that by 1962 most of the African countries would have thrown
off political domination and embarked upon their own national
existence as sovereign states. But that did not stop us from going
forward with our efforts, buoyed by the certainty of ultimate
victory. And it has come, as I said, much sooner than anticipated.
T hat is how I feel about African union. Just as I was con­
vinced that political freedom was the essential forerunner of our
economic growth and that it must come, so I am equally con­
vinced that African union will come and provide that united,
integrated base upon which our fullest development can be
secured. There is no doubt that the task before us is a challenging
one. No easy road to the achievement of m odem industrializa­
tion has so far been discovered. The most we can hope is to learn
from the more glaring mistakes of those who have preceded us
on the road what we should obviously avoid, and what will most
assist us in pushing forward to the goal as speedily as possible
without sustaining too many bitter shocks to the body politic.
But there is absolutely no doubt that the key to significant
industrialization of this continent of ours lies in a union of African
states, planning its development centrally and scientifically
through a pattern of economic integration. Such central plan­
ning can create units of industrialism related to the unit re­
sources, correlating food and raw materials production with the