I am an Afro-optimist who believes that we could leverage emerging technologies to leapfrog into the future.
I also believe that Africa will see its enormous population and resources as a competitive advantage and move the continent out of the throws of poverty.
My optimism was, however, dampened last week at the immigration office in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
At the invitation of the African Development Bank (ADB), I agreed to travel to Abidjan to make a presentation on emerging digital technologies in land management at the Land Policy Conference.
Prior to travelling, I tried to get an online visa that I have used in my previous visits to Ivory Coast mostly for ADB functions. The portal was down but ADB was swift at organising for an entry visas.
On arrival, the immigration official confiscated my passport and ordered me into a police office. I obeyed. Inside the police office, I enquired why I had been sent there.
“No English please,” a female police officer responded. “Need help? Speak French,” she added.
“No French,” I responded.
We stared at each other for an hour before other delegates from other African countries streamed into the police station. An official from ADB finally came to rescue the delegates.
Even with his intervention, the airport officials, including the police had to go through seven other steps.
NOT READY
From the welcome we received I concluded that Africa was not ready for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Free trade is not possible without free movement of people.
The problem is larger than these small visa altercations. As I spoke to other detainees, we couldn’t lay a finger on where the problem was.
Some said that we needed to sustainably deal with the language problem in Africa. I didn’t think language is the problem. If it was language, then what should be the African language?
In retrospect, the policewoman and I were within our colonial confines in an African country.
There is no quick fix to the language challenge. There are other fundamental differences that Africa needs to deal with at continental level as well as other problems at national level.
