Africa should ensure it capitalises on partnerships

Opinion and Analysis

From left: Presidents Salva Kiir (South Sudan),Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya) during an integration project summit in Kigali, Rwanda. FILE 

 

In Summary

The Kenyan delegation to the summit led by President Uhuru Kenyatta has a chance to negotiate better deals with US investors.

The US-Africa Summit in Washington is supposed to define the new relationship between the world’s largest economy and the continent. Attended by more than 50 heads of states and governments, it is the largest congregation by African leaders in the US and will seal business deals worth nearly $1 billion.

 

Also, Africa will witness some more funding towards agriculture, energy and peacekeeping. It is important to note that the US now sees its relationship with Africa in terms of trade, investment, opportunities and growth and this appears to be informed by the Chinese surge with mega-investments in the continent.

Whether this has informed the summit is not of interest at the moment. The onus is on African nations is to capitalise on the renewed partnerships to maximise returns from a global economic powerhouse.

In the last few years, and as the US dithered, China, India and Brazil cultivated good relations with Africa and offered us pivotal links to the global economy. Today, they account for 25 per cent of Africa’s global trade, up from three per cent in 1992. This partnership should not die and should flourish alongside that of the US.

President Obama’s vision is to install 10,000 megawatts of new generation capacity by 2018 and connect more than 20 million customers. What is of interest is that the US is now emphasising on investment and trade rather than aid.

That said, President Obama’s presidency has been a disappointment to many in the continent who had hoped that Africa’s place would have been enhanced by his tenure. It is worth noting that the level of trade between US and Africa plunged from 15 per cent in 2006 to seven per cent last year. Obama appears to have focused more on global turmoil and miscalculated Chinese investment flood into Africa.

With Africa as the new investment frontier and with Kenya as one of the success stories in the continent, President Kenyatta should focus more on the drivers of the economy; good governance, infrastructure, security, education, and sound financial systems.

Kenya should forge better ties with Washington and tap to its resources. It should tone down its anti-West rhetoric.