The Togolese Ambassador to Ghana, Jean-Pierre Gbikpi-Benissan, has expressed concern about the way Africa has been turned into a market for raw materials whose finished products are sold back to it at prices convenient to the foreign producers. "The paradox is that in return, end products from those raw materials have been pouring in, and Africans have been patronising them blithely." Mr Gbikpi-Benissan was speaking at the 21st Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) annual Marketing Performance Awards at the State House in Accra on Saturday. At the ceremony individuals and organisations who have demonstrated marketing excellence and innovations in the year under review were honoured. He commended Ghana for taking measures to discourage the importation of used fridges and freezers and called for the initiative to be supported. Mr Gbikpi-Benissan stressed the need to get rid of the artificial boundaries that "the colonial masters have succeeded to cordon us off adding that for business and development to soar on the continent, elimination of borders in one form or the other, is a must. "We do not have to continue to venerate the border concept as inherited from colonial history, even when we all know that to some extent; it has become more detrimental to our unity as a continent than otherwise". He noted that the African continent had not been paid back for the generosity that it had displayed to the rest of the world since the slave trade period. "On the contrary, among many other injustices, she continues to suffer from the rules of international trade". Mr Gbikpi-Benissan said trade between Africa and the rest of the world represents not more than a paltry 3 per cent of the world traffic, while the continent doles out 80 per cent of its mining resources to industries around the world to thrive. He insisted on the need for Africans to put in measures to gain relevance and secure a decent place among nations. "Let us make Africans and others realise that truly this is a market, an emerging one, but still a market". He called on policy makers, civil societies, the private sector, and the informal sector to increase efforts to eradicate poverty, disease, instability, recklessness and all other plagues bedevilling Africa. "Since we all agree that we need investors and serious partners for our development, we need to do away with those negative attitudes that paint us so black." The Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Ibrahim Awal and "Mrs Dzigbordi Dosoo, Chief Executive Officer of Allure Ghana Limited, were adjudged the Marketing Man and Woman of the year respectively. For their prize, they would be given GH¢50,000 personal accident cover, MTN wireless modem, a weekend for two at the African Regent Hotel and a GH¢400,000 worth of Tom Card. Other organisations that received awards included Melcom Group of Companies. Source: The Ghanaian Times