Unite or watch others profit, Patterson tells Africa and Caribbean

ACCRA, Ghana — Former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson has issued a blunt challenge to Africa, the Caribbean, and the worldwide African diaspora: stop leaning on goodwill and start organising power, or watch others keep capturing the value of African resources, labour and talent in a world where “right is replaced by might”.

Addressing the Third Africa in Transition Conference in Accra on October 8, Patterson, statesman-in-residence at The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy at The University of the West Indies, called for a Global Africa Coalition uniting governments, regional organisations, financial institutions, universities, businesses, civil society, cultural institutions, youth and diaspora communities behind a single practical programme.

“Above all, in a turbulent world, unity is about more than historical kinship — it is power.” Patterson pointed to March 2026 when the United Nations General Assembly, in a resolution spearheaded by Ghana, declared the trafficking and chattel enslavement of Africans the gravest crime against humanity.