Baba Oozes Wisdom as he hosts first AU Summit

Raila Odinga once again proved why he is so respected across continents during his first AU Summit.

Baba was appointed the African Union’s High Representative for Infrastructure Development in October last year and is now hosting a summit on infrastructure financing in Africa in Nairobi.

In his opening remarks, Raila urged African countries to reduce their appetite for Chinese loans.

“We are here to think about what we can do for ourselves as Africans before we go to the World Bank, EU or to the Chinese,” Raila said.

We need to devise effective and efficient plans to mobilize the requisite resources to fund the identified projects otherwise the projects will remain mere wish lists.
And that is the reason we are here to think deeply and creatively about fundraising and project implementation pic.twitter.com/EAc96k3jXL

— Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) April 16, 2019

The former Prime Minister also stressed on the need for proper infrastructure development to enable trade within African countries.

“The continent needs a high-speed freight railway, which would have a tremendous impact to the economy,” he said.

We are here to discuss a solemn subject; infrastructure financing.
In the journey of a country's or a continent’s progress towards prosperity, infrastructure plays a decisive role. #AfroStructure pic.twitter.com/ehvnbTpcPG

— Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) April 16, 2019

President Uhuru Kenyatta held talks with Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni last month to boost trade between the two countries.

We simply can’t compete and thrive in the 21st century with 19th century infrastructure. It is estimated that our annual infrastructure gap – that is the difference between what we have and what we need – stands at around $170 billion. #AfroStructure pic.twitter.com/6DRDGwsctE

— Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) April 16, 2019

But high cost of production, especially in Kenya means that it will be very hard to sale commodities to other countries.