The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), H.E. Wamkele Mene, has declared that the vision of a borderless Africa is central to the full success of the continent’s single market ambition, stressing that free movement of people remains a critical pillar of Africa’s trade and integration agenda.
Speaking in a media interview after a high-level closed-door meeting held at the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) headquarters during the Day 4 2026 Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) on Saturday, 7th February, 2026, Mene said Africa cannot fully unlock the benefits of AfCFTA without accelerating efforts to remove travel barriers across the continent.
“Borderless Africa is essential to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” he stated, noting that the idea of free movement should no longer be treated as a distant concept but an urgent continental necessity.
Mene pointed to the African Union Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons as a key legal instrument already in place to support the goal of seamless mobility across Africa. However, he expressed regret that the protocol has so far been ratified by only four out of the African Union’s 55 member states, a development he described as a major setback to the continent’s integration drive.
“I regret that protocol has been ratified by only four countries out of 55, meaning that there’s a lot of work that has to be done to ensure that free movement of persons becomes a reality,” he said.
Despite the slow pace of ratification, the AfCFTA Secretary-General commended countries that have taken independent steps to promote visa openness and facilitate intra-African travel. He cited Ghana’s visa-on-arrival policy for all Africans, alongside similar initiatives by Nigeria, Rwanda and Kenya, as examples of bold national actions advancing the borderless Africa agenda.
“These are some of the countries that have on their own accord taken significant steps to ensure free movement of persons,” he noted, while acknowledging that several other countries remain far behind in implementing such reforms.
Mr. Mene described it as deeply troubling that Africans still face restrictive visa regimes within their own continent, arguing that such limitations undermine the objectives of AfCFTA and constrain economic opportunities for businesses, entrepreneurs and workers.
“It is a matter of regret that Africans cannot travel up to 90 percent of Africa without a visa,” he said, calling for urgent reforms to reverse the trend.
He further stressed that achieving meaningful progress will require stronger political commitment from African leaders and greater engagement at the level of heads of state through the African Union framework.
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