Former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak has recounted a gruelling 150-day road journey across Africa aimed at advocating for a visa-free and borderless continent, describing the experience as challenging, revealing and ultimately reaffirming his belief in Pan-African integration.
Speaking on Asaase Yaad Settingz with King Lagazee on Sunday, 18 January, Ras Mubarak said the campaign has taken him and his team through more than 31 African countries, covering over 40,000 kilometres, as they engaged governments, regional blocs and key stakeholders on the need to dismantle restrictive visa regimes across the continent.
He explained that the journey began in Southern Africa but was repeatedly disrupted by factors beyond their control, including election-related violence in Tanzania, the outbreak of the Marburg virus in East Africa, and a road accident in Zambia that kept them off the road for nearly a month.
“We were on our way to Addis Ababa when the Marburg virus broke out. It’s like Ebola—very deadly—so we had to turn back,” he said. “Then we had an accident in Zambia that kept us grounded for almost a month.”
The group later flew to Morocco and Algeria before continuing through Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and finally Côte d’Ivoire, where Ras Mubarak spoke from Abidjan ahead of his return to Ghana.
Despite the setbacks, he said the journey exposed the immense potential of African countries when infrastructure, governance and political will align, singling out Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire for praise.
“If people can afford a holiday in Africa, Rwanda should be one of the first places to visit,” he said, citing seamless borders, clean cities and strong road networks.
Ras Mubarak also disclosed that his team held high-level meetings with political leaders, including Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, foreign ministers and vice presidents in several countries, where they presented petitions advocating visa-free travel for Africans.
According to him, countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola and Uganda have shown strong interest in adopting visa-free policies, with Liberia indicating it could move in that direction within one to two years.
Currently, he noted, only five African countries—The Gambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Seychelles and Benin—offer visa-free access to all African nationals, a situation he described as “an eyesore” decades after independence.
Ras Mubarak said the findings from the journey would be submitted to the African Union, ECOWAS, SADC and the East African Community, as part of sustained follow-up efforts.
He is expected to return to Ghana on Thursday, with plans to arrive at the Independence Square to brief the media before continuing engagements with continental bodies.
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