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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - GREAT NEWS! GREAT NEWS! GREAT NEWS! SENATE INTRODUCES ENERGIZE AFRICA BILL (H.R. 2548 IN HOUSE)

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I agree with you completely. I just do not understand how this can be described as great news. That the U.S. Government is introducing a bill to help provide electricity to Africa - what ordinarily should be a primary responsibility of respective African states - does not look to me like something to celebrate. Like foreign aid, this form of external assistance can only provide very temporary relief to what is essentially fundamental structural defects. 

To me the best form of assistance Africa needs to change its fortunes is an overhaul of state-society relations across the continent. The state in most of Africa seems to exist only to serve the interests of state officials and their cronies. That is why the state has failed woefully to provide even the most basic necessities for her citizens. Now, the issue is not resource constraints, but a predatory state-society relations that gives state officials the feelings of owning the state and its resources. Some have argued that this form of perverse relationship between the typical African state and its citizens is a legacy of slavery and colonialism. Whatever the explanation for this type of relationship, an important point is that until the meaning and essence of the state is redefined, it is not likely that we will see the type of change necessary to achieve inclusive and sustainable development. 

Unfortunately, it seems African societies - all of us - have internalized this very wrong definition of the state. That is why when a sitting Governor or state official uses public resources to build road or provide water for a community, there is dancing and celebration; and several awards are bestowed on the official, as if he has gone above and beyond his ordinary call of duty to do something spectacular. 

It is okay to thank those who want to help Africa through foreign aid or through the Energize Africa bill, but what we really do need is to change the structure and purpose of the state. That is one clear way to build institutions that would promote the kind of growth that leads to development. Without this very important restructuring, we will continue to see the kind of "growth" that has been coming out of Nigeria - that is, sustained annual GDP growth at above 6% for the past 10 years, yet unemployment is rising, poverty is rising, physical infrastructure is comatose and all other real measures of wellbeing is going the opposite direction. Under the present state-society relations and the accompanying institutions, foreign aid, even the Energize Africa thing, will amount to nothing more than throwing supposedly good resources to faulty foundations. We do not need to look too far to see the futility of these initiatives under weak institutions. AGOA was celebrated too. But we know that Africa has not used AGOA to the fullest, because there is very little real production going on in most of Africa. 

It is not clear how this can be achieved, but those who want to help Africa should focus on helping the continent redefine the essence of the state and develop the institutions that would restrain state officials from "owning" the state and its resources. Unfortunately, many years of bad leadership, corruption and jaundiced educational system has completely emasculated the civil society in most of the continent. So, purposeful external assistance should be geared towards this important fundamental restructuring. Simple sectoral interventions like the Energize Africa bill can only go the way of the other development assistance so far...

Kenneth


On Saturday, 21 June 2014, 18:50, "Anunoby, Ogugua"<AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:


U.S. Senator Menendez and others are introducing their Energize Africa Bill in the U.S. Senate. Is this great news? Should it be great news? I know that this action would not have been necessary however if the governments of the African countries concerned would only do the job for which they are elected or is it selected. Why should electrifying Africa be a matter for U.S. Senators or any other foreign country? Is sovereign baby-sitting not gone too far? Why some African countries' governments continue to subordinate their sovereignty to the sovereignty of outside powers continues to baffle me. The governments are apparently unable to do constructive things that can matter-of-factly develop their countries and improve the lives of their citizens. Is colonization/neo-imperialism to blame for this too? What are the governments doing letting their countries play lagging further behind when their countries should be playing catch-up and possibly overtake other countries? Do they not know that the key to national respectability is pride built on successful self-reliance? Are the governments not aware of the price of dependence on other governments? Governments should not be delinquent or incompetent because they can get a little help from other governments. Are the governments really governing? What is going on? When will whatever is going on cease to go on?
 
oa      
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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: [TalkNigeria] GREAT NEWS! GREAT NEWS! GREAT NEWS! SENATE INTRODUCES ENERGIZE AFRICA BILL (H.R. 2548 IN HOUSE)
 
Chika!,
 
The Senate bill is being introduced TODAY!  THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!!!  More to come!
 
Brian

Dear All,

The above is not a thank you to me, it is a THANK YOU TO YOU ALL for a great job, getting Senator Menendez and his colleagues in the Senate to introduce the Electrify Africa Act Senate version, Energize Africa Bill.  It certainly shows that we have started to make impacts on matters that concern our dear continent.  We did this in 2012 with the AGOA Third Country Fabric bill which saved more 312,000 African.  Look at all the things that are going to happen with this bill.

THANK YOU ALL.

Dr. Chika A. Onyeani

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
African Sun Times: http://www.africansuntimes.com/
Email: conyeani@africansuntimes.com
Tel.: 973-675-9919
Cell: 917-279-4038



SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

June 19, 2014


Adam Sharon, adam_sharon@foreign.senate.gov (Menendez)
Chuck Harper, chuck_harper@foreign.senate.gov (Corker)
Ian Koski, ian_koski@coons.senate.gov (Coons)
Amanda Maddox, Amanda_Maddox@isakson.senate.gov (Isakson)
 
Menendez, Corker, Coons, Isakson, Markey, Johanns Introduce Energize Africa Bill
 

Legislation will support 50 million people receiving access to electricity for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa
 
Bill will stimulate economic growth, improve access to education in Africa

 

Supporters encouraged to utilize hash tag #EnergizeAfrica on social media
 
Washington, D.C. – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member Bob Corker (R-TN), along with Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced the Energize Africa Act, a bill seeking to help contribute a meaningful role in providing nearly 600 million Africans with electricity.  The legislation will make it US policy to help 50 million Africans with first-time access to electricity and add 20,000 megawatts of electricity to the grid by 2020.
 
"U.S. leadership can help provide modern, clean, reliable, and affordable energy services to people lacking access to electricity, and this legislation will help jump start that effort," said Menendez.  "We must develop power solutions for people across Africa based on a comprehensive plan to attract private investment. It does not simply mean building new power plants, it means working to build brighter futures. New off-grid technologies and working with utilities to attract private investment will help create American export jobs and stimulate economic growth in Africa."  
 
"To be most effective with limited foreign aid resources, we should focus our efforts on things like electricity where we can ultimately reduce the need for U.S. support over time. Leveraging private capital can help bring financially viable electric power to millions of people for the first time, transforming lives and creating economic opportunities that would not exist otherwise," said Senator Corker.
 
"Access to reliable energy is critical to Africa's growth and prosperity, and increased economic partnerships with the United States," Senator Coons said. "Africa's future is more promising than ever before, yet widespread energy poverty and a lack of access to distributed energy infrastructure holds back too many countries across the continent. The Energize Africa bill brings together the public and private sectors to expand energy access, develop new power sources, promote renewables and distributed energy solutions, and support improved energy sector governance. Reliable energy is the foundation of vibrant economies, and I'm proud we've been able to come together in a bipartisan way to strengthen critical partnerships in the energy sector between Africa and the U.S." Senator Coons chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs.
 
"Seven out of 10 people living in Africa have no access to electricity," said Senator Isakson. "Greater access to electricity will save lives, alleviate extreme poverty and accelerate growth.  I am proud to join my colleagues on the Energize Africa Act, which sets forth a coordinated strategy for the United States to work with Africa to achieve the important goal of improving access to energy on the continent."
 
The legislation includes the following components:

·         Requires the President to create a comprehensive strategy for United States' engagement with sub-Saharan Africa in developing a broad mix of power solutions to increase electricity access and reliability;

·         Encourages the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), USAID, the U.S. Department of Treasury, World Bank, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and African Development Bank to prioritize loans, grants, and technical support that promote private investment in projects designed to increase electricity access and reliability;

·         Authorizes OPIC to continue ongoing work through 2019 and provides limited additional authorities specifically for use on power projects in sub-Saharan Africa.  These authorities for sub-Saharan Africa power projects include:

o   Expedited procedures for small projects,

o   Promoting partnerships between U.S. joint ventures and African partners to develop responsible electricity generation and,

o   Lending to encourage investments in the power sector in Africa by making certain U.S. investors eligible for loans of $50 million or less,

o   Expands local currency guaranties for local branches of foreign banks

o   Extends term of assistance possible for renewable energy projects

·         Creates a new inspector general for OPIC

·         Allows OPIC to hire a limited number of temporary employees

·         Commissions OPIC's new inspector general to provide a report on OPIC's ability to support infrastructure and energy projects and evaluate if the ability to invest directly in projects would help or hurt support for such projects

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