From our special correspondent in Durban, Issouf Kamgaté.
Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah, Prime Minister of KwaZulu-Natal Province Sihle Zikalala and several provincial governments in South Africa have just created a networking platform to develop the internal preparedness and capacity of the economy local to the realities of the Zlecaf and take advantage of the trade agreement.
The birth of this network, which took place on the sidelines of the second edition of the intra-African trade fair (Iatf 2021), stems from an observation: the sub-sovereigns currently do not have a platform to discuss issues. local decentralization policies. So this network, according to Benedict Oramah, is another crucial step towards accelerating continental integration and its use as a platform to pursue common development aspirations.
“The main reason for decentralization and the devolution of political power is to bring governments closer to citizens. Sub-sovereigns are believed to be closer to the people and therefore better placed to formulate practical policies that directly address their priority development needs. It is believed that the policies developed and implemented at the central level cannot sufficiently discern the peculiarities of the interest of several sub-units that make up the whole ”, underlines the president of Afreximbank, who claims to have conceptualized the idea. of a network of African sub-sovereign governments, six months ago with the Prime Minister of Kwazulu.
For the president of Afreximbank, members of the network must work together to influence regional or continental trade and economic policies and programs, “especially those which have a direct impact on populations”.
