CFA franc "is a cancer" that "annihilates any process of competitiveness," Kemi Seba, head of the NGO Urgences Panafricanistes, which founded the Front anti-franc CFA, told Sputnik Africa on the sidelines of the second Russia-Africa Summit.
According to the activist, the currency "destroys any process of competitiveness". The euro is too strong a currency for local economies, and the CFA franc, which is pegged to it, is "out of step with the economic reality of our countries," Seba explains.
"So that's why we're talking about a flexible exchange rate pegged to a currency basket, because it's the best way out," says the pan-Africanist activist.
Seba noted that since the CFA franc has been pegged to the euro, the European Union has profited, "France in the lead," and this process "has to stop".
"Before each country can move on to another stage, it must understand the imperative need to have its own sovereignty in monetary matters," he summed up.