The Obama Presidency In Africa the Change we need is here with us

Barack Obama’s triumph as US president has been one of the momentous episodes within global politics in recent times. Obama, the grandson of Mama Sarah of Kogelo in Nyanza province of Kenya, has presented an interesting new twist on how Africa will relate with USA and by extension how Africa will be perceived within the global arena in the next 10 years to come. Thus his inauguration today should offer prospects for enhanced US-Africa relations due in part to his dual heritage and his change agenda which is focused on those of the bottom of the economic pyramid everywhere. Policy analysts have been offering positions of how this is likely to play out. Obama will be a seating president with more knowledge and biological connection with Africa than any other USA president since America’s existence as a nation-state. Consequently Africa through the Obama presidency should brace for forward investments and support than previously seen. For instance Obama Foreign Policy on Africa is thus likely to reflect the change agenda the continent so needs desperately. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Somalia will need what commentators refer to as ‘heavy weight diplomacy along with doses of hard-headed political analysis propped up with well targeted development funds’. His past actions are a key pointer of good things to come. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Barrack Obama had fought to focus America’s attention on the challenges facing Africa – stopping the genocide in Darfur, passing legislation to promote stability in the Congo and to bring a war criminal to justice in Liberia, mobilizing international pressure for a just government in Zimbabwe, fighting corruption in Kenya, demanding honesty on HIV/AIDS in South Africa, developing a coherent strategy for stabilizing Somalia, and traveling across the continent raising awareness for these critical issues. He has also increased America’s focus on strengthening democratic institutions and spurring sustainable economic development in Africa. Obama had pledged during his campaigns to take immediate steps to end the genocide in Darfur by increasing pressure on the Sudanese to halt the killing and stop impeding the deployment of a robust international force. He will thus hold the government in Khartoum accountable for abiding by its commitments under the Comprehensive Peace Accord that ended the 30 year conflict between the north and south. On a broader level Obama has also pledged to double annual USA investment in foreign assistance from US$25 billion in 2008 to US$50 billion by the end of his first term. This will fully fund debt cancellation for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries in order to provide sustainable debt relief.At the same time Obama pledged a further investment of at least US$50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/Aids. Obama will expand prosperity to the third world by establishing what his campaign machinery called an ‘Add Value to Agriculture Initiative’ meant to create a fund that will extend seed capital and technical assistance to small and medium enterprises, and reforming the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He will also launch the Global Energy and Environment Initiative to ensure African countries have access to low carbon energy technology and can profitably participate in the new global carbon market so as to ensure solid economic development even while the world dramatically reduces its greenhouse gas emissions. An Obama presidency will also strengthen the African Growth and Opportunity Act to ensure that African producers can access the U.S. market and will likely encourage more American companies to invest on the continent. Thus a potential spill over will be that Obama’s presidency will likely cement business ties of the more than 30 million African Americans with Africa. Countries such as Rwanda with a robust investment promotion regime should actually angle for this highly appealing prospect. This is because African businesses are very likely to be given a USA dressing in terms of FDI inflows, technology transfer and research capability that Africa so needs badly. Yes we can! Africa should angle for this change we need desperately. Contact: ojiwah@gmail.com