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Obama can only light up Africa with its
own “leading lights” – Bright Simons
On the fourth day of President Obama’s 6-day Africa tour, his
aides say that he is scheduled to announce in Cape Town, South
Africa, a new US plan to advance the electrification of Africa.
Aides were sure to make it known that this is the ‘signature’
Obama initiative for Africa that many have been expecting since
he came to office, and the absence of which has given rise to
concern in certain circles.
As one of the people who have in the past complained about the
seeming lack of new ideas for a “strategic engagement with
Africa” from the Obama White House, I welcome renewed energy
towards that direction.
The issue selected – Africa’s electricity challenge – is clearly
a vital one. The World Bank for instance says that all
sub-Saharan African countries, minus South Africa, combined do
not generate more electricity than Argentina. Including South
Africa, they produce only as much as Spain.
It is commendable that the White House is pledging up to $7
billion in additional funding from two of its overseas-focussed
agencies – EXIM and OPIC – for this cause.
I am sure that the White House is already aware that even if
this whole amount was provided in a single year, and it is more
likely that it will be provided over a 3 to 5 year timeframe, it
will not be able to dent the $23 billion YEARLY deficit in
energy investment on the continent.
Realistically, President Obama’s new initiative, standing alone,
will reduce the annual deficit in energy investment in Africa by
6.5% per year over a 5-year period after which even more cash
will need to be injected to maintain the reduction in the
deficit.
You can also look at it this way. If all the electricity
generated in Africa was shared equally, each household would
have enough to power a normal light-bulb for about 3.5 hours a
day per person. With President Obama’s new initiative, this can
increase by roughly 18 more minutes if implementation was
perfect.
Because Africa’s electricity challenges are however not due to
capital investment in generation alone, implementation can never
be perfect. For example, if all the money being voted for this
initiative was spent on building power plants, as the preceding
scenario assumes, one will still have to contend with
maintenance challenges and, connected with that, efficient
administration of the power system, including investment in
transmission and distribution, as well as government policy on
ensuring that people pay realistic prices for the power they
consume.
In many African countries this has been far from simple. Once
these factors are taken into consideration, it will be
remarkable if the initiative succeeds in providing 5 more
minutes of electrical light per person per African household per
day.
But the Obama initiative need not become a drop in the bucket as
such calculations may, rather cynically and dryly, suggest. It
can become a catalyst or even a trigger for more investment from
within and outside Africa into the continent’s electricity
infrastructure.
That will only happen if President Obama does not make this
initiative a ‘stand-alone’ effort. It must be integrated into
the well-defined and locally legitimate PIDA initiative of the
NEPAD (New Partnership for African Development). It should in
particular focus on triggering investment into the $80 billion
REGIONAL Grand Inga Initiative that has the capacity to double
Africa’s current electricity production.
Such a US – NEPAD Electricity Initiative would have the
remarkable distinction of supporting home-grown African efforts
to solve Africa’s problems, and strengthen pan-African
institutions in the fashion President Obama has been so keen to
support.
Even better, the growing pan-African young professionals’
engagement with NEPAD means that a strategic tie-up between US
Africa policy and NEPAD will vindicate the third plank of the
Obama “Africa Doctrine”: “energising Africa’s Next Generation”.
Bright Simons is honorary Head of Research at IMANI, a think
tank in Accra, and the inventor of Africa’s home-grown ICT-based
response to the counterfeit medicines problem: www.mPedigree.Net
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