{The next president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) must improve the livelihoods of the continent\u2019s poorest people, address huge energy shortages and fill infrastructure funding gaps, according to the bank\u2019s outgoing president, Donald Kaberuka.}<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the next leader of the bank \u2026 inclusion and broad-based growth is absolutely the number one [item on the] agenda,\u201d says Kaberuka, who steps down in May after presiding over the bank for a decade.<\/p>\n
With worsening levels of inequality and soaring population growth across Africa, Kaberuka calls on the biggest lenders to African countries to refocus their efforts on providing services and opportunities for the poor. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you ensure that everything [financing institutions do] asks the question: does this reach the ordinary citizen in our countries? Not simply, Senegal [has] 10% GDP growth \u2013 and a taxi driver says, \u2018Well, I can\u2019t eat the GDP\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
For Kaberuka, a Rwandan who served as his country\u2019s finance minister from 1997 to 2003, navigating the bank through the 2008 financial crisis and helping it to keep its credit rating intact are among his proudest achievements.<\/p>\n
But plenty of challenges remain for the bank and for the continent. \u201cEach time I land in a rich African country, I count the number of private jets and I think, what could be the origin of this wealth? It\u2019s unlikely to be enterprise or innovation,\u201d says Kaberuka. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe test of a nation is not how many millionaires you have, it is how many millions of people you [lift] from poverty into the middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n
The test of a nation is not how many millionaires you have, but how many millions you lift out of poverty \u2026
\nDonald Kaberuka <\/p>\n
Kaberuka also warns that Africa\u2019s economic development is being choked by chronic energy shortages: \u201cToday, in every single African country, from South Africa to the north, the biggest impediment to economic growth is energy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He adds that the continent must find an extra $92bn every year to fill its infrastructure funding gap \u2013 to build new roads, schools, hospitals and airports.<\/p>\n
Kaberuka has said climate change is one of the \u201cgreatest calamities\u201d Africa faces, but he is encouraged by successful solar projects in Morocco and windfarms in Kenya. The AfDB has an investment policy to finance renewable and non-renewable energy projects in equal measure.<\/p>\n
Kaberuka defends African countries using non-renewable energy sources. \u201cIt is hypocritical for western governments, who have funded their industrialisation using fossil fuels \u2026 to say to African countries: \u2018You cannot develop dams, you cannot develop coal, just rely on these very expensive renewables,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
With oil, gas and mineral production at the forefront of Africa\u2019s economic growth, Kaberuka has called for better management of the continent\u2019s natural resources. China, the main buyer of Africa\u2019s oil and minerals, has taken a prominent role in financing infrastructure projects, leading some to question the AfDB\u2019s place in Africa\u2019s funding ecosystem. <\/p>\n
Last year, the bank announced a $2bn partnership with the People\u2019s Bank of China, known as the Africa Growing Together Fund, which will use AfDB\u2019s policies, procedures and safeguards to help African governments strike better deals with Chinese investors.<\/p>\n
But Kaberuka stands by the progress the bank has made under his stewardship, and shrugs off the suggestion that he could have done more for Africa\u2019s poor. \u201cInfrastructure is now 60% of everything we do, and we backed the mission of the bank, which was creating the single market in Africa,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Regional integration has been an AfDB priority since its founding in 1964. Despite a number of false starts, Kaberuka is \u201cvery confident\u201d that regional blocs such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) will realise long-held ambitions to tighten political unions and merge into a single market.<\/p>\n
But last week the Tanzania president, Jakaya Kikwete, said the \u201cslow progress\u201d towards the EAC\u2019s common market was \u201cdiscouraging\u201d to citizens of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi, which make up the bloc.<\/p>\n
Kaberuka bemoans the minimal role African governments have played in the Ebola crisis. The early stages of the response saw \u201cthousands of NGOs with all these huge vehicles with radio antennas, but there was no involvement of communities or governments\u201d, he says, adding that the AfDB\u2019s priority has been to channel funds to governments dealing with the crisis. So far, the bank has given $230m to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, he says.<\/p>\n
The final cost of the Ebola crisis will be about $3.2bn, according to Kaberuka. He applauds the international response to Ebola, describing it as \u201cpeople putting their politics on the side, dealing with the problem\u201d. But he criticises African governments for \u201cfailing to explain to the communities how Ebola could be contained\u201d.<\/p>\n
The AfDB will elect its next president in May. Eight candidates \u2013 from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Chad, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Mali \u2013 have been named.<\/p>\n
The next president will be judged by their ability to spread Africa\u2019s economic growth and lift people out of poverty, says Kaberuka. \u201cThink of a citizen looking at power lines going above them, and they live in darkness because they can\u2019t afford [electricity].\u201d<\/p>\n
{{The Guardian}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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