Former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, has called for the establishment of a pan-African media powerhouse to help unite the continent and reshape the global narrative about Africa.<\/p>\n
Speaking passionately at the Broadcasting at the Crossroads forum, hosted by the Africa Media Bureau in Accra on Friday, September 26, he emphasised the urgent need for Africans to tell their own stories\u2014stories that reflect the true identity, challenges, and potential of the continent.<\/p>\n
Using Accra as a potential hub, Kufuor envisioned a media house that connects Africans across linguistic and regional lines, fostering deeper understanding, cultural exchange, and continental integration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the professional media people will find a way to establish a powerful media agency, say here in Accra\u2014very African\u2014to tell African stories, not just political, it could be economic, it could be social, it could be entertainment, it could be trade, it could be industry. I tell you, before you know it, the African in Nigeria, Nairobi, or South Africa\u2014we would do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kufuor said that was because Africa was still largely defined by external media, with its people often consuming narratives that do not originate from within the continent.<\/p>\n
He stressed that this external definition continues to distort Africa\u2019s image, slow its progress, and fragment its identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor Africa so far has tended to be defined from outside. We are seeking our identity,\u201d the former President remarked. \u201cFor instance, now we are forming things like AfCFTA, but it tends to be just talk, talk\u2026 But then digitalisation, global technology\u2014they are evading us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that although technology has reached even the remotest villages, African control over digital platforms remains minimal. \u201cWe talk platforms. How many of the platforms are managed and driven by us?\u201d he asked, highlighting the lack of African ownership in digital spaces.<\/p>\n
Kufuor also pointed to lingering colonial-era divisions, such as language barriers, that continue to hinder African unity. \u201cWe still are locked into the blinkers of colonialism. We are Anglophone, my cousin in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire is Francophone, the next person is Lusophone\u2014we do not know ourselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stop the person in Accra and you want to discuss something in Nigeria\u2014you\u2019d be lucky if this person knows anything,\u201d he said, underscoring the disconnect between African countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, has called for the establishment of a pan-African media powerhouse to help unite the continent and reshape the global narrative about Africa. Speaking passionately at the Broadcasting at the Crossroads forum, hosted by the Africa Media Bureau in Accra on Friday, September 26, he emphasised the urgent need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":13342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,41],"tags":[4113,3833],"class_list":["post-13341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-general-news","tag-african-unity","tag-kuffour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13343,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13341\/revisions\/13343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}