{"id":117528,"date":"2026-03-02T11:55:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117528"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:55:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:55:47","slug":"president-mahama-urges-africa-to-forge-its-own-path-warns-against-blindly-emulating-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117528","title":{"rendered":"President Mahama urges Africa to forge its own path, warns against blindly emulating the west"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 31 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned African nations against measuring their progress against Western countries, citing growing political and social crises in the so-called Global North.<\/p>\n

He made the remarks during the opening of the 2026 judicial year of the African Court on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights on Monday, 2 March, in Arusha, Tanzania.<\/p>\n

Addressing a gathering of jurists, diplomats, and civil society representatives, President Mahama noted that many countries long regarded as exemplars of democracy, justice, and human rights are witnessing significant declines in governance standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look beyond Africa, what you\u2019ll find is that the fa\u00e7ade of the so-called Global North, a group of countries that have long held themselves up as beacons of democracy and human rights, of liberty, justice, and the rule of law, is fast crumbling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He highlighted alarming trends, including weakened judicial independence, arbitrary detention of citizens and lawful residents without due process, executive overreach, and restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and protest.<\/p>\n

According to the President, these developments have led to a general erosion of liberties and a marked decline in public trust in government institutions.<\/p>\n

Drawing on the wisdom of Tanzania\u2019s founding father, Julius K. Nyerere, he reminded his audience:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne does not judge one\u2019s state of health by comparing it to a sick person.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Mahama stressed that African nations have for too long relied on Western standards as benchmarks for their own progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor far too long, we have compared ourselves to the West and used what we believed were their standards as benchmarks for our endeavours,\u201d he said.
\u201cThe reality we see today should serve as a clear call to action. What should be our paradigm in understanding and interacting with the world, even as we preserve our dignity and cultural identity as Africans?.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned African nations against measuring their progress against Western countries, highlighting growing political and social crises in the so-called Global North.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,36,1883,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-john-mahama","category-national","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}