Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire – Pan-African advocate and Ghanaian politician Ras Mubarak on Wednesday reflected on his continent-wide road campaign, saying the journey across Africa proves that free movement among African nations is possible and urgent.
Speaking from Abidjan, where his team is concluding engagements in Côte d’Ivoire, Mubarak said the campaign has so far covered 31 African countries in just over 155 days, largely by road, as part of a broader call for a visa free Africa by 2030.
He said the journey began in Accra and passed through Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea before continuing to Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. From there, the team travelled to Lesotho and entered the Kingdom of Eswatini by road, before proceeding to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.
Mubarak said visa challenges in North Africa forced the team to fly from Kenya to Morocco and later to Senegal, after which they resumed road travel through The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, arriving in Côte d’Ivoire earlier this week. He said the delegation is scheduled to return to Accra on Thursday morning, where they will brief the media at Independence Square.
He said the road journey was meant to challenge the perception that cross border travel within Africa is impossible, noting that Africans can move across the continent when barriers are removed and cooperation is strengthened.
Mubarak said over the past five months, the campaign has engaged heads of government, regional bodies and development institutions to push for policies that allow Africans to travel, trade and work freely within the continent. He said restrictions on visas and the high cost of travel continue to limit mobility, trade and tourism within Africa.
He commended Seychelles, The Gambia, Rwanda, Kenya and Benin for allowing visa free entry to all African passport holders, saying these countries offer a working model for the rest of the continent.
Mubarak said the campaign will submit formal recommendations to institutions such as the African Union and the African Development Bank, calling for urgent reforms to support intra African trade, tourism and economic diversification.
He said Africa’s long term prosperity depends on Africans being able to access opportunities across borders, reduce over reliance on natural resources and strengthen people to people ties across the continent.
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