The Founder of the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has expressed deep concern over the persistent hurdles associated with intra-African mobility, stating plainly that travelling across other continents is significantly easier than navigating within Africa. The prominent lawyer and advocacy leader highlighted this paradox as a major stumbling block to the continent’s economic integration and development goals.
For decades, African travelers and business professionals have lamented the logistical nightmares of moving from one African country to another. The challenges range from exorbitant airfares and a lack of direct flight routes, often forcing travelers to connect through Europe or the Middle East just to reach a neighboring African state, to highly restrictive and expensive visa requirements. According to Otchere-Darko, this lack of seamless connectivity starkly contrasts with regions like Europe, where integrated systems allow for fluid movement of people, goods, and services across borders.
This restriction on movement directly undermines the operational success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a flagship project of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 designed to create a single continental market. The Africa Prosperity Network, under Otchere-Darko’s leadership, has consistently championed the need for a borderless Africa. The organization argues that true economic prosperity and robust intra-African trade cannot be realized if the very people meant to drive this trade are heavily restricted from crossing their own borders.
Stakeholders across the continent are increasingly echoing these sentiments, calling on African governments to urgently harmonize travel protocols, implement visa-free policies for fellow Africans, and fully actualize the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Removing these artificial barriers is widely viewed as the most critical step toward unlocking Africa’s massive economic potential and fostering deeper cultural and commercial ties among its nations.