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'We Are Not Free if Our Financial Flows Controlled': Expert on Search for Alternative to CFA Franc

© AP Photo / BEN CURTISA bank teller counts piles of new West African CFA Franc banknotes plus old-style 500 CFA notes, bottom-right, and old-style 10,000 CFA notes, top-left, at a bank in Dakar, Senegal Monday, Sept. 13, 2004. French West Africa is engaged in a massive, eight-country campaign to retire more than 1 billion euros (dollars) in aged, limp currency.
A bank teller counts piles of new West African CFA Franc banknotes plus old-style  500 CFA notes, bottom-right, and old-style 10,000 CFA notes, top-left, at a bank in Dakar, Senegal Monday, Sept. 13, 2004. French West Africa is engaged in a massive, eight-country campaign to retire more than 1 billion euros (dollars) in aged, limp currency. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 26.04.2024
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The possible abandonment of CFA franc has been one of the issues widely discussed recently in former French colonies in Africa.
"We are not free if our financial flows are controlled," Lui Francois, head of the charitable foundation Way to Success, commented on the search for an alternative to the CFA franc.
"The one who controls financial flows is the one who is your boss," he told Sputnik Africa.
African continent on the globe - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 09.08.2023
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"There's a whole program of colonization through the CFA franc. The CFA franc is not just the currency," he noted, adding: "We don't want continual paternalism. That's paternalism: where we can't decide for ourselves."
"The most important thing is that we want to get rid of a certain gentleman who considers himself everything as the eternal Father. Let the children become adults. Well, that's our goal. It's that we want to have an alternative," the head of the foundation explained.
At the same time, he doesn't rule out mistakes, but rather sees them as an opportunity to learn.
To get out of "constant control", African economists are considering other options, he said and added: "What will be produced will be better than what we currently have."
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