Kenyan PM Odinga addresses the AGOA Forum. Source: KICC, 2009 AGOA 8th Forum.
The world has come to expect strong and dynamic leadership from the Obama administration. In the campaign, they promised to bring change and new ideas to domestic and international policy and to redefine and recalibrate the US’s role in the world. At the 8th Annual AGOA Forum-the annual US-Africa Summit-held this week in Kenya, however, it was the African leaders who broke new ground.
From Dr. Donald Kaberuka’s astute and insightful assessment of the financial crisis’ impact on Africa to Erastus Mwencha’s appraisal of the oft-overlooked progress on regional integration, I was awed by the capable leadership stewarding Africa during these difficult economic times.
It was Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga’s speech that really charted a new way forward and defined the African agenda for addressing some of the most pressing global crises. In the context of trade, he did not focus solely on the US-Africa relationship, but highlighted the incredible potential and need for intra-regional trade. On agricultural development and food security, he named the elephant in the room by suggesting that the US look hard at its agricultural subsidies and their devastating impact on African farmers.
While Secretary Hillary Clinton recycled the usual US message of focusing on trade, development, good governance and women’s empowerment, Prime Minister Odinga made a call for a united and forward-looking African position on climate change in Copenhagen. Africa has polluted the least and suffered the most. In fact, Kenya has been suffering a four year drought and periodic costly floods. The Prime Minister did not hesitate to ask for self-reflection on the part of the US as he said the worst environmental “offenders are known” to all.
Minister of Trade of South Africa Rob Davies reminded USTR Ron Kirk that the Africans too can show “tough love” and the Ministers of Trade from Zambia, Rwanda, and Mauritius asked pointed questions about the future of AGOA preferences in the face of Congressional proposals to grant duty-free, quota-free access to the US market to all lesser developed countries, including Cambodia and Bangladesh (hyper competitive apparel producers). The questions were ducked and dodged leaving the audience hungry for answers and brave new ideas on how to realize AGOA’s promise rather than undermine its purpose.
I am now convinced that those ideas will have to come from Africans and from their friends in Washington. Just as a networked grassroots effort elected our first president of African descent, a bottom-up dialogue on how to enhance AGOA is critical for advancing the kind of transformational economic development that President Obama spoke of in his video AGOA address to the Kenyan people.
