On the occasion of the 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings, the African Sovereign Debt Justice Network (AfSDJN); the Pan-African Lawyers Union, (PALU); the African Forum for Debt and Development (Afrodad); NAWI Afrifem Macroeconomics; the Jesuit Justice Ecology Network Africa, (JENA); BudgiT; Ongolo; OKOA Uchumi, and the African International Economic Law Network, (AfIELN), call upon the IMF and the World Bank to address their unjust governance structures that continue to stifle the voice and representation of African countries in global economic and financial decision making.
African countries did not take part in designing the current international financial architecture which embeds within it Africa’s historical subjugation. We agree with the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, the current global financial system is “skewed significantly against developing and emerging economies” and in favor of rich countries. Major reforms of the governance structure of the Bretton Woods institutions are required as a significant step towards recognizing African countries and their citizens as rule makers in the re-design of the international financial and debt architecture.