Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has called for the accelerated transformation of Africa into a first world continent, saying the continent has the resources and manpower necessary to achieve developed status.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Infra for Africa Forum and Africa50 General Shareholders Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on behalf of President William Ruto, Prof. Kindiki said Africa could no longer afford to lag behind in development despite being richly endowed with the resources needed to compete with the developed world.
“Africa needs to build confidence in itself because as Africans, we must learn to have confidence in our continent and in our capability to do what others have been able to do,” said Kindiki.
He said Kenya was firmly committed to attaining first world status and was implementing reforms aimed at accelerating infrastructure development, economic growth and investment.
At the same time Kindiki urged African countries to look beyond short-term social, political and economic gains and instead invest intentionally in long-term programmes and policies that would sustain development for decades.
“We must ensure that the frameworks for projects, programmes and policies we have in place today will still be in place in many years ahead so that we take Africa into first world status because it is possible to do it as already done by other countries,” he noted.
The the second in command said Kenya had adopted innovative financing models to support infrastructure development noting that the government was mobilising resources through the capital markets to finance transformative projects.
“In Kenya, we have just put in place an Infrastructure Fund where we are mobilizing resources from the stock market by selling part of the stakes in government-owned entities and using the capital to crowd investment by the private sector,” he said.
He observed that Africa’s journey towards first world status would require long-term political stability, predictable policy frameworks, enhanced technological advancement, stronger public-private partnerships, better governance and continuous engagement with citizens.
“We need to have the people with us. We must carry the people along women, young people, rural and urban It is not enough to build roads, railways, seaports, harbours and gas pipelines but it equally important to ensure the people travel the development journey with us,” Prof. Kindiki said.
The Deputy President warned that policy inconsistency remained one of the greatest threats to Africa’s development agenda, saying governments should shield long-term projects from political transitions.
“The biggest threat to Africa’s development today is policy disruption which is an unintended consequence of democracy. The movement from one administration to another is a good thing but we must find ways of insulating our development agenda from democratic transitions so that we can have continuity in development,” he said.
Prof. Kindiki further called for stronger regional partnerships, saying African countries should work together to mobilise resources and lower the cost of financing major infrastructure projects.
“We need to have innovative ways of mobilizing resources both nationally and regionally to be able to reduce investor risk and lower cost of capital and enable implementation of capital-intensive projects,” he said.
Tanzania President Samia Suluhu delivered the keynote address during the forum, which was also attended by former Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete and other dignitaries.
Prof. Kindiki noted that Africa had the potential to achieve the same level of development as other regions if leaders remained focused on long-term planning, policy consistency and investments that place citizens at the centre of the continent’s transformation agenda.
Edited by John Majau
