Ghana’s Parliament opened the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty, and Values on Wednesday, with a call for the continent to reject foreign ideological conditioning and defend its indigenous family structures.
Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, delivered a stirring keynote at the historic event, drawing direct parallels to the 1958 All-African People’s Conference that sowed the seeds of political liberation.
“Political independence was only the first step. True emancipation lies in the complete restoration of our cultural and institutional autonomy,” Bagbin declared.
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The conference, initially scheduled for May, was postponed to early June to ensure maximum participation.
Representatives from 20 nations, including Burkina Faso, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, joined observers and traditional leaders in Accra.
Speaker Bagbin warned against development aid conditioned on adopting “alien cultural paradigms,” calling such practices a violation of the UN Charter’s principle of sovereign equality.
“Conditioning aid on the alteration of domestic laws violates our sovereignty,” he said. “Our laws must look like the people they are written to protect.”
He contrasted the Western nuclear family model – described as isolated and lonely – with Africa’s intergenerational web of mutual responsibility, citing Ubuntu philosophy and indigenous social safety nets.
The Speaker called for the formal adoption of an African Family Values Charter, harmonized through regional bodies like the Pan-African Parliament and ECOWAS, and anchored to the AU’s Agenda 2063.
He paid special tribute to Uganda for hosting the first three conferences, stating, “Africa thanks you for your steadfast leadership.”
While defending African values, Bagbin stressed that protection must never excuse state violence or human rights abuses, urging laws that combat domestic violence, child labor, and harmful practices against women.
“A family structure that tolerates the exploitation of its own members cannot claim to be African,” he said.
The conference will produce model legislation for member parliaments.
The Speaker tasks delegates to reject the premise that modernization requires the erasure of African identity, stating, “We can be technologically advanced while remaining profoundly African.”
He urged delegates to translate resolutions into bills, budgets, and oversight actions.