The summit and the conference: what do they mean to you?

This week has been a very busy one for Kigali. There were two big meetings in town. On Monday we had the East African Infrastructure Summit that brought together four Presidents from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan. The next day three more Presidents from Mali, Gabon and Burkina Faso joined them for the Transform Africa summit. The East met the West. From the participants’ accounts, these two meetings went very well.The question now is how all this can impact on you and I. After all, a plan is as good as its implementation. The good news is that a huge part of this impact depends on you and I; on us. How each of us embraces these developments is crucial to how far we get to benefit or otherwise from the same. It has to start with curiosity; where there is smoke there is fire. There has been so many hullabaloos surrounding the last two infrastructure conferences in Kampala and Mombasa respectively. It had the dubious distinction of attracting some negative publicity from media in one of our neighbouring countries. It was alleged that Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda were isolating other East African countries and yet beyond these choppy waters of accusations and propaganda lies the truth. After the curiosity must come analysis to separate wheat from chaff and get the facts right. After the analysis we have to determine the best way to use the opportunities presented to us, jointly or separately.Do you, as a citizen, understand what is at stake for you in the just ended East African Infrastructure Summit that brought together four regional Heads of state to Kigali? Do you also see the benefits that accrue to you from the Transform Africa Conference? Are these events relevant to you?These are questions that every citizen who is, to borrow from Bob Marley, ‘conscious’ should ensure that they ask themselves and each other. Even the pedestrian concern of why seven Presidents would congregate in our neck of the woods should make us immensely curious. Yes, it is true that we like receiving visitors, they are a blessing. But why are they here and how can we benefit from all these activities?The two conferences are well summed up in the words of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, “If we look back and assess what drove the growth of developed economies it was railway line, sea transport and air transport; we in Africa are still struggling to connect our people and have free flow of goods on the continent,”. He adds, “The true and single driver that will propel us from a developing to a developed world in a shortest possible time is for us to recognize that railway lines, sea and air transport of yesterday is broadband today.”“In Rwanda”, President Kagame noted, “we consider ICT as a utility like electricity, water and other necessities. “So far I haven’t seen anything to discourage me from investing in ICTs”. This is why in June, the South Korea’s largest telecom company, Korea Telecom, entered into an agreement with the Government of Rwanda to deploy 4G LTE broadband network across the country, to help ensure faster, more reliable and cheaper internet servicesThe public sector has done very well in its role as an enabler of economic growth and development. For example, it used to take 22 days to import goods from Mombasa to Kigali. Thanks to these infrastructure meets, this has reduced to 8 days. President Kenyatta says this can be reduced further.The reduced importation time means that transportation costs will be cheaper (if they are not already). This means that we can pay less as consumers and sell more as producers. This is not limited to transport, it extends to other areas of focus like IT, electricity, reduced bureaucracy, oil and oil pipelines, et al. The long and short of it is that we will be able to link and sell faster, and cheaper. This frees up some more income for both the sellers (who are able to sell more) and buyers who are able o buy, save and invest more)As president Museveni cautioned, if we cannot link these developments to other sectors like agriculture and production the success of all these efforts can’t be realized. That is why you and I are the critical to these effortsHere is an opportunity to change the world. Be the leader and make it happen!Sam Kebongo is an entrepreneurship Development Consultant based in Kigali.