40 year old South African emerges first African Continental Free Trade Area secretary-general

A 40 year old South African, Wamkele Mene has emerged the first Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), following a close contest with Nigerian Cecilia Akintomide for the Scribe position.

Penpushing reports that emergence of Mene  came through vote at the end of the 33rd African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa, after intense lobbying by the two countries to win support from other member States of the African Union.

The elections saw three contestants  initially shortlisted, following  Faustin Luanga from Democratic Republic of Congo,who ws the third candidate  but  shoved aside by the diplomatic weight of Nigeria and South Africa.

Penpushing further reports that, the elected Secretary General was the lead negotiator for South Africa when the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was being considered by the 54 countries and territories that make up the continent.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) new scribe has also spent years as a Chief Trade Analyst at the World Trade Organisation, while President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana had promised a beffing secretariat for the body when his country won the slot of operational office for the organization,adding that the secretariat  would be ready by March 31 in Accra.