Let’s exploit American support to build our country

The bi-lateral talks between Kenya and the United States at State House Nairobi yesterday highlighted areas we must exploit to accelerate economic growth and social progress.

After the talks attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and visiting US Head of State Barack Obama, the two leaders were refreshingly candid about their commitments. Most significant for many traders will be the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for another 10 years.

It is anticipated that the 109,000 Kenyans who are employed directly or indirectly by firms that export goods to the United States will benefit from this arrangement that gives sub-Saharan African countries access to US markets.

President Obama, who is in Nairobi to attend the ongoing Global Entrepreneurship Summit before he leaves today, also pledged his country’s support to establish a direct flight from the United States to Kenya — a prospect likely to increase the number of visitors from North America to Kenya, thereby boosting trade and tourism.

Furthermore, there will be greater consultations between the two nations before travel advisories are issued on account of the potential risk of terror attacks in Kenya. The objective is to ensure the adverse effects of these advisories are minimised.

Kenya has been waging a relentless war against Somalia- based Al-Shabaab militants and will count on the continued support the Americans have pledged to make this nation safer.

But the role of other member states in the region to ensure cessation of fighting in South Sudan will have to be addressed if peace is to be realised in this region. Regrettably, there has been little concerted effort from East African member states and members of the wider African Union community to stop the fighting. This is unfortunate.

Nevertheless Africans will benefit from American aid in other ways. Yesterday, Obama pledged his country’s support for the Power Africa project, an initiative that targets to raise the connections to electricity through the provision 30,000 megawatts of new, cleaner electricity generation capacity. Going by yesterday’s discussions, Obama also highlighted the US’s commitment to helping to strengthen local institutions that fight corruption.

This will be a boost to the government’s own programmes to address rising corruption that has seen the suspension of some senior figures in government, including five Cabinet Secretaries in Uhuru’s administration.

Corruption is a scourge that afflicts almost all aspects of Kenyan life and compromises ability of the government to provide services to its people. It also contributes to the increase of poaching activities — an activity the United States will try to help contain by banning the sale of ivory products in all US federal states.

However, it was not just the benefits that came out of Kenya’s talks with the US that will help improve lives. There were other commitments made during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, among them a pledge by the US to foster the growth of new businesses by securing more than $1 billion (Sh102 billion shilling) in investments for new commercial enterprises globally.

Africa, which has been the focus of this summit, has some of the world’s fastest growing economies with the number of people lifted out of poverty and advancing to the middle bracket expanding rapidly. But this is not enough, Africa should translate its growth by being a hub for global growth.

Although Africa has had serious security concerns, it is open for business. Therefore, the new generation of entrepreneurs should be committed to the African renaissance that includes involving the private sector to grow national economies.

There will be some points to ponder after Obama leaves. There will be discussions about how Kenya can ride on the initiative developed by US agencies to keep adolescent girls free from HIV/Aids. What we must not do is squander opportunities that will improve the welfare of Kenyans.