East African heads of state (from L) President Paul Kagame of Rwanda,
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Yoweri Museveni of
Uganda. Africans must not take it for granted that their time has come.
PHOTO | FILE
NATION MEDIA GROUP
The dream that the 21st will be the
“African Century” is powerful and intoxicating. It is also becoming a
reality. As African officials gather in Washington, D.C. for the first
US-Africa Leaders Summit, it is worth considering the basis – and limits
– of the continent’s progress.
While conflict and
poverty remain serious problems in many African regions, our continent
is not only more stable than ever before; it is also experiencing some
of the highest economic growth rates anywhere on the planet.
Over
the past decade, tens of millions of people across Africa have joined
the middle class; our cities are expanding rapidly; and our population
is the most youthful in the world.
But Africans must
not take it for granted that their time has come. Words are cheap, and,
despite the continent’s positive momentum, we know that history is
littered with squandered dreams – nowhere more so than in Africa.
So
there is much that we in Africa must do to seize our opportunity.
Building bigger, more integrated sub-regional markets that are deeply
embedded in the global economy is one of the most urgent tasks we are
facing.
After
all, from the European Union to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations to the North American Free Trade Agreement, we see how
geographic regions can create conditions for shared growth and
prosperity by removing barriers to commerce, harmonising regulatory
norms, opening labour markets, and developing common infrastructure.
CONCRETE RESULTS
That
is precisely the vision we are working to realise in our own part of
Africa, under the banner of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects.
In
the past 18 months, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda joined by South Sudan and
more recently Ethiopia, have launched 14 joint projects that will
integrate East Africa more closely and make our region a better, easier
place to do business.
There are already concrete
results. We have put in place a single tourist visa valid in all three
countries. We have established a single customs territory, slashing red
tape and removing non-tariff barriers.
A standard-gauge
railway from Mombasa to Kigali and Juba via Kampala is being designed,
and financing for the first segment has been secured from Chinese
partners.
Taking these steps has required going against
decades of entrenched practice. Unfortunately, across Africa, national
borders have tended to be choke-points rather than enablers of
intra-continental cooperation on trade, security, labour, and
environment.
Too often, Africa’s economies exchange
goods and coordinate policy among themselves less than they do with
countries outside of the continent. We are determined to change this.
Under the Northern Corridor initiative, for example, each of our
governments has accepted responsibility for shepherding key projects.
GENERATE POLITICAL WILL
Uganda
is securing investors for a new oil refinery and is spearheading the
development of regional infrastructure for information and
communications technology, which will lead to the elimination of
cellular roaming charges among our countries.
Kenya is
tasked with developing a regional commodity exchange, improving human
resources through education and consultancy services, and building both
crude and refined oil pipelines. Kenya is also exploring ways to expand
regionally focused power generation and transmission.
Rwanda
is charged with aligning immigration laws and promoting freedom of
movement for both citizens and visitors. Other coordination duties
include regional security (through the East African Standby Force),
coordinated airspace management, as well as joint tourism marketing.
We
know what success will look like for our region’s citizens. And we know
what needs to be done. Progress will be achieved not by building
monuments for politicians or holding summits, but by lowering the costs
of doing business and raising the incomes of our people.
Bureaucracies
move slowly, for they are institutionally programmed to subvert change.
The framework of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects is designed
to generate the political will to get the project done.
The
US has always been an important partner for our countries, but the path
to solving our problems is not through handouts. Only we, together with
our business sector, can do the job.
As we do so, we
look forward to a deeper and more “normal” relationship with the US,
focused on what we can do together rather than on what Americans can do
for us.
Mr Paul Kagame is President of Rwanda, Mr
Uhuru Kenyatta the President of Kenya, while Mr Yoweri Museveni is
President of Uganda. (c): Project Syndicate, 2014.
www.project-syndicate.org.
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