Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa form BRICS

The Afro-Continental Union Consult (ACUC), an African think tank on good governance, says African countries must apply for addition to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) organisation to fortify a continental union financial base.

The ACUC said this in a statement signed by Dr. Benjamin Anyagre Aziginaateeg and Madam Sheran Palacio, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member, respectively, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

BRICS is the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies to promote peace, security, development, and cooperation.

It said BRICS was an alternative means for many African states to view and apply for admission as a step to fortify a continental union financial base.

“It is an alternative block for interest-based sovereign rights with favourable terms and conditions unlike any other financial institutions in the world, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.”

The ACUC questioned what major development strides African countries’ membership, such as Ghana’s, of the IMF and World Bank, have achieved, stressing that “All we know is that such a body’s instructions are policy-driven hardships on citizens with less vigilance on graft and corrupt practices.”

It added that “Ghana, in a 12th constitutional dispensation, is highly encouraged to join the BRICS as a long-standing relationship with the IMF/WB imposes conditions of no progress to Ghana’s development but usually to offset budget deficits.”

It added that misappropriation, mismanagement, graft, and corrupt agendas of duty-bearers must give way to national transformation projects.

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