Borderless Africa Critical to AfCFTA Success – Mene

Accra, Feb. 7, The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), H.E. Mr Wamkele Mene, has described the vision of a borderless Africa as crucial to the success of the continent’s single market integration.

He said the free movement of people remained a key pillar of Africa’s trade and economic integration agenda and must be prioritised to fully realise the benefits of AfCFTA.

Mr Mene made the remarks in a media interview after a high-level closed-door meeting at the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) headquarters during Day Four of the 2026 Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), held on Saturday.

According to him, Africa would not be able to unlock the full potential of the AfCFTA without accelerating efforts to remove travel and mobility barriers across the continent.

“Borderless Africa is essential to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” he said, stressing that free movement should be treated as an urgent necessity rather than a long-term aspiration.

Mr Mene referred to the African Union Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons as an important legal framework already in place to support seamless mobility across Africa, but expressed concern about its low level of ratification.

He said only four out of the African Union’s 55 Member States had ratified the protocol, describing the situation as a major setback to Africa’s integration efforts.

“I regret that the protocol has been ratified by only four countries out of 55, which shows that a lot more needs to be done to make free movement of persons a reality,” he stated.

Despite the slow pace of ratification, the AfCFTA Secretary-General commended countries that had independently introduced policies to facilitate intra-African travel.

He mentioned Ghana’s visa-on-arrival policy for all Africans, as well as similar initiatives by Nigeria, Rwanda and Kenya, as commendable steps towards advancing the borderless Africa agenda.

“These countries have taken significant steps on their own to promote the free movement of persons,” Mr Mene noted, adding that many other countries were still lagging behind.

He described it as worrying that Africans continued to face restrictive visa regimes within their own continent, noting that such barriers undermined the objectives of AfCFTA and limited economic opportunities for businesses, entrepreneurs and workers.

“It is regrettable that Africans cannot travel to about 90 per cent of African countries without a visa,” he said, and called for urgent reforms.

Mr Mene emphasised that meaningful progress would require stronger political commitment from African leaders and greater engagement at the level of Heads of State through the African Union framework.