07 Dec 2023

Free movement of people across the African continent is core to trade and integration of people.

As movement of people increases, so will be movement of goods and services across the continent. As such, some countries across Africa have already taken strides to easy movement across African states, as per the Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Among those are Botswana and Namibia, which allow their citizens to cross borders using their respective national identity cards.

According to Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary, Mr Jimmy Opelo, who spoke during the ongoing Kusi Ideas Festival in Tlokweng yesterday, the decision came after the realisation that people living along the borderlines did not always have passports, which hindered movement.

As such, he said it was ideal for Botswana and Namibia to allow citizens to be mobile and facilitate trade. However, he said when the idea was discussed, there were skepticism over its implementation over security issues.

He explained that international travel bodies could capture the security features on identity cards. “We are happy with what we see now. People do not have to wait for passports to travel,” he said, adding that passports at times could be expensive to make.

African Development Bank (AfDB) vice president-advisor for Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Mr Samuel Mugoya said some African countries had scrapped off visa requirements for Africa travellers.

He said Africans needed to invest in infrastructure, which supported online trade such as financial transactions. “We need to think beyond movement of people.

We need to think about digitalisation,” he said, adding that AfDB supported infrastructure development across Africa. Another panellist, chief operating officer of Ae Trade Group, Ms Treasure Maphanga said there were protocols and agreements, which African countries had made. As such, he said there was a need to bring onboard the private sectors for implementation.

He further said there was a need for regional blocks to harmonise protocols and hold each other accountable during the implementation period. Such was also echoed by Mr Opelo, who said the continent had to align how to move about the implementation of the free movement of people.

He added that the continent had abundant resources and raw material to facilitate to move around the world.

The Kusi Ideas Festival, held for the fifth time is held under the theme; Africa’s Agenda 2063: Making the Dream Come True and was based on the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Ends