By PPS

President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the prosperity of Africa lies in economic integration of the continent and increased investment in women and youth.

President Kenyatta blamed the poor economy of the continent on Africa’s fragmented markets, which has placed economies in competition with each other rendering them too small to compete globally.

Speaking yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa, where he is attending the World Economic Forum on Africa, the Head of State said deeper integration would widen the market for goods and services.

“This will enhance intra Africa trade and investment which will facilitate the growth of African economies and uplift the living standards of the people,” he said.

The President who was speaking during the forum deliberating on the theme of ‘Africa in 2063’, outlined his vision and perspective of Africa in the next 50 years. Kenyatta emphasised that the future of Africa was embodied in youth and women.

 “For Africa to achieve sustainable development and prosperity, we need to invest more on the youth especially in education.  We must also empower women who constitute half of our population,” he said.

Innovation

The President said his Government will prioritise investment in youth especially in providing education and equipping them with entrepreneurial skills.

“We are also mainstreaming ICT in the education system to ensure our youth have solid grounding in modern information and communication technologies and in order to nurture the culture of innovation that has increasingly taken root in our country,” he added.

The Head of State cited MPesa saying it which has speeded financial transactions, deepened financial inclusion and generated employment and is now in use even in developed countries. Kenyatta said this Government will continue to pursue policies that will enable the youth and women access affordable credit for investments.

This, he added, will further promote the SMEs sector which employs the largest number of people in the country and continent.

The President explained that Kenya adopted a progressive Constitution that has mainstreamed the empowerment of women and enables them to go for leadership positions and to inherit and own land.

The President noted that the people of the East African region and indeed in the continent were already engaging in cross border trade saying the challenge is now on the political leadership to formalise integration. “What is now needed is the strong political will to support full implementation of all necessary protocols that will lead to full integration of the EAC as well as other regional blocs in the continent,” he said.

The Head of State regretted that trade among African countries accounts for only 10 per cent and is the least compared to trade with markets like Europe, America and Asia. The President noted that 60 per cent of Europe’s trade is with its own continent while almost 50 per cent of all trade in Asia is conducted with regional peers.

Kenyatta called for the consolidation of trading blocs saying that Africa has 14 with overlapping memberships.

With respect to the East African Community, the President said his Government is committed to deepening the integration of the East African region through elimination of trade barriers.

The President further said peace and stability are necessary for the success of the integration agenda and reiterated the commitment of his Government to support peace initiatives in the region and especially in Somalia.

The President emphasized that better connectivity between East

African region countries would enhance mobility of citizens citing the Lamu Port South Sudan and Ethiopia transport corridor (Lapsset) as an example of the infrastructure projects that will improve links between countries in the region.

Kenyatta said completion of the Lapsset project will link Kenya and Ethiopia and open a wide range of new opportunities.

To facilitate integration, the President, underscored the need to prioritise strategic infrastructural development in order to facilitate the movement of goods and people as well as create incentives for regional diversification and value addition.