Energy now a priority in US aid to East Africa

What you need to know:

  • Although the Trump administration is streamlining its support to Africa, EAC will remain among its priorities and the main thrust will be on energy projects

Arusha. The focus of United States’ investment and support to the East African Community (EAC) bloc will be on energy through the US-funded Power Africa initiative.

The pledge was made here yesterday by Mr Mark Meassick, the mission director for the American aid agency USaid in Kenya and East Africa.

“The magnitude of resources is not enough, but priority will be given to the energy sector,” Mr Meassick told reporters after meeting senior EAC officials.

He said the US has injected about $220 million as development aid to the EAC in the last two years, a sign of growing partnership between the two sides.

Mr Meassick said his country’s support to the EAC was increasingly shifting from health and environment to trade-related investments such as agriculture and customs.

“More investment will be in the energy sector. Through industrialisation, energy will have a high return of investments,” he said

Power Africa is a five-year American presidential initiative launched by President Barack Obama during his visit to Tanzania in June 2013.

Through Power Africa, the US government in August released $21 million for the development of the energy sector in the EAC region.

The initiative aims at supporting economic growth and development by increasing access to reliable, affordable and sustainable power in Africa.

Tanzania was to be among the six main focus countries, the others being Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia.

USaid was to spearhead the implementation of the programme in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) which was to allocate $3 billion.

Mr Meassick denied the US was slashing its development aid to Africa, noting that there was no change of funding under the Trump administration.

EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko said USaid was now one of the strongest partners to the regional bloc.

It was through the agency that larger amounts of US development assistance to the region is channelled, he said, citing the $200 million injected to EAC in the past two years.

“We have seen it (American assistance to EAC) growing by far higher. We’ve not seen a downward change yet,” Mr Mfumukeko pointed out.

USaid is now the second among the development partners supporting the EAC after Germany. The European Union (EU) is ranked third.