Africa Must Invest in Infrastructure

Mfugale Deodatus (Africa News)—African presidents attending the 8th Leon H.Sullivan Summit in Arusha, Tanzania, have cited corruption and poor infrastructure as major obstacle in efforts to raise the quality of life the continent’s people.

The six presidents are Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Armando Gebuza of Mozambique, Mohamed Abdulaziz of Sahrawi, Omar al Bashir of Sudan and their host President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania.

Speaking during the presidential plenary session on tourism and infrastructure development in Africa, President Kikwete said that Africa will never attain speedy development without investing adequately in infrastructure development.

“The continent must establish quality road, railway and telecommunications networks without which no significant development can be realized,” President Kikwete said.

He noted that because of poor infrastructure Africa has failed to exploit available potentials in industry and tourism and lift its people out of poverty.

On the other hand, President Kikwete expressed deep concern on decreasing aid to Africa, much as there have been promises by developed countries to increase aid to African countries.

He challenged African leaders to come up with home-grown solutions to the development problem by exploiting local resources and consider aid from developed countries as just supplementary to their own efforts.

On his part President Kagame hit at corruption and unnecessary cross-border checks, saying that tedious procedures in business and transport operations frustrate development efforts.

“We can not talk about improved trade and investment when poor infrastructure links our regions and the continent in general. Business cannot thrive under dilapidated infrastructure; we have to address this issue seriously by taking collective measures,” Kagame stressed.

Contributing during the presidential session, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir said that Africa should develop its infrastructure in order to speed up industrial and tourism development.

“But we should also focus our attention on agricultural improvement. There is no development amidst hunger and food shortages, so we have to improve the agricultural sector in order to avert hunger and bridge existing gaps of food supplies facing the continent,” he said.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya said that the Sullivan Summit had come at a time when the world and Africa in particular, is experiencing rising food and fuel prices, a problem which he said must be solved by Africans themselves. He noted that the spirit of regional integration can only be realized through improved infrastructure which would in turn act as catalyst for socio-economic development.

President Armando Gebuza of Mozambique spoke about poverty facing Africans, saying that after so many years of freedom and with such abundant natural resources there was no justification for Africans being so poor todate. He urged African leaders to put more emphasis in the use of indigenous knowledge and provision of life skills particularly I the rural areas where many poor Africans live.

In his closing remarks the co-chairman of the Sullivan Foundation, Ambassador Andrew Young expressed optimism that the continent can chart its own way towards development by implementing local solutions and fully exploiting available potentials.

<< Back to main