Uhuru: World ignored Africa in time of need

President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for concerted efforts in the fight against Ebola.

Speaking in Equatorial Guinea where he is on a two-day official visit, President Kenyatta said the global reaction to the Ebola outbreak in Africa would not have been the same if it had happened in Europe or America.

Uhuru said time had come for African leaders to look for homegrown solutions to the continent's problem.

He said the slow global response to Ebola was a wake-up call to African leaders to join hands and set aside resources to tackle health challenges facing the continent.

"The kind of response given to the affected countries is not the kind of response we would have seen if this happened somewhere in Europe or America," he said.

He told African leaders to work in solidarity to tackle various challenges facing the continent, including health and insecurity.

"Be it terrorism or Ebola, we will only be sorted out when we begin putting our own resources together as a continent. Then, and only then, will we be able to find our own solutions," Uhuru emphasised.

He noted that it was unfortunate that most African countries panicked immediately after the outbreak.

Uhuru said Kenya's national carrier, Kenya Airways, would soon lift the ban on flights to the affected countries in West Africa.

"Ebola is not a problem to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea alone. Kenya depends on tourism and when the crisis unfolded we had to put in place instant measures. We also, unfortunately, had to stop flights to the affected countries. However, this was done as a measure to sort the matter out," said Uhuru.

He expressed gratitude to the African leaders for standing in solidarity with Kenya in its time of need and said the only way out for the continent was for its leaders to invest in the health sector just as they have done in infrastructure.