Private legal practitioner, Ace Anan Ankomah, says Donal Trump's suggestion that Africans should not be allowed to travel to the United States is racist.
He condemned the US president's comment as racist but noted Africans have described themselves worse.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr Ankomah said: “if he had described us with that offensive word alone, we would have lived with it because we have described where we live with worse".
“But he said because we come from this place, we should not be allowed into the US or we should be taken out. That is the critical thing that people are ignoring either deliberately or otherwise,” he added.
President Donald Trump has been sternly criticised for describing the continent of Africa with an offensive language.
During a bipartisan meeting, he is reported by the Washington Post as saying "Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?"
The African Union has condemned the statement and asked the president to apologise for the remarks.
Related: 'We are not a shithole country' -- Akufo-Addo condemns Trump outburst
Although he agrees with Mr Trump that things aren’t as they should in Africa, Mr Ankomah said the implications of the comment make it racist.
“We cannot miss the grave racism that is embedded in it. Calling us a mess is not racist, saying that we are not entitled to travel or move into his country because we are a mess and the countries and continent he identified clearly shows that this is a racist statement.”
Africa, for him, is indeed a mess, but that does not disqualify its citizens from migrating anywhere across the globe.
For those who are incensed by Mr Trump’s comments, he advised that they change their attitude towards work.
“We need to fix our country, we need to fix our continent”, he said, adding that anyone offended should “should work a couple of hours longer at the office, cut down on the unnecessary banter, work harder to fix this nation, ask yourself what else can I do to make sure that Ghana can become a good place.”
Although he is convinced that even if Ghana is turned into a haven overnight, it will not change people like Trump’s view, making an attempt at fixing will be good for her people.
“We need to fix our country, we need to fix our continent,” he stressed.
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