President Jakaya Kikwete, accompanied by First Lady Salma Kikwete, arrives at the White House for a group dinner during the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
On the morning of July 1, last year, when five million residents of Dar es Salaam woke up to a lifetime shock and couldn’t believe their eyes weren’t cheating. Some thought they had been caught by the wrong hop.
Suddenly, their dirty and dusty neighbourhoods had all been spruced up, and in a rare show of resolve, someone had actually seen it to use clean water to ‘‘bathe’’ the streets; it was a rare treat indeed — never seen here before in decades.
Hundreds of those streets and walkways famous for the ubiquitous beggars underwent ‘‘state-of-art surgery’’ as beggar after another were temporarily bundled out from the heart of Dar es Salaam.
But, it was also just a special moment to welcome a man who came waving a $7 billion energy package in his hands, and a message of partnership in his heart to Tanzania and Africa.
Earlier in March, last year, Dar es Salaam hosted the dragon, Chinese President Xi Jiping, who made Tanzania his first stop-over during his tour of Africa, shortly after being elected the country’s top leader.
During President Xi three-nation Africa tour during, China signed 16 trade, cultural and diplomatic accords worth about $12 billion in Tanzania alone.
There are approximately 8,000 businesses run by his native Chinese compatriots across Tanzania, ranging from large-scale construction projects to small shops and downtown market kiosks.
This week, President Obama convened a giant game of “Let’s Make a Deal” between the US and Africa, bringing together nearly 50 African leaders with American investors for what he promised would be a long-term partnership that went beyond extracting “minerals from the ground for our growth.”
President Jakaya Kikwete was among the key speakers during the meeting, which some analysts see as the American’s attempt to overtake the growing Chinese’ influence not only in Tanzania, but across Africa.
For Mr Obama, the son of a Kenyan economist, wrote Mark Landler of the New York Times: “It was the centerpiece of a three-day summit meeting of African leaders — some close allies of the United States, others barely on speaking terms — that is the president’s most ambitious attempt to cement his legacy as an American leader who cares about the African continent.”
Mr Obama told African leaders: “Our entire trade with all of Africa is still only about equal to our trade with Brazil.” He added:
“I want Africans buying more American products; I want Americans buying more African products. I know you do, too, and that’s what you’re doing today.”
Landler further wrote: “The African leaders seemed gratified by Mr Obama’s sales pitch, which was echoed by a roster of boldface names from the business world, including the chief executives of General Electric, Coca-Cola and IBM and private-equity titans from Blackstone and the Carlyle Group.
But according to the New York Times, the chamber of commerce vibe was disrupted just before Mr Obama spoke when some of the African leaders took umbrage to questions about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the security threat from Boko Haram and other militant groups.
President Kikwete, said during that meeting that too often “the whole of the African continent is perceived as if everywhere, everybody is suffering from Ebola.”
He also played down a question from Charlie Rose, the CBS News anchor, about the threat posed by militants, saying that Africa’s two major trouble spots, Somalia and Darfur, Sudan, had calmed down.
However, during that meeting, Mr Obama steered clear of the Ebola outbreak or Islamic militancy — not to mention his own personal links to Africa.
Instead, his speech focused heavily on creating the right conditions for American companies to invest in Africa.
He made a couple of announcements to jump-start the effort, including $12 billion in new funding for the administration’s Power Africa initiative, which aims to provide electricity to households across sub-Saharan Africa. With $26 billion in funding, Mr Obama said he had tripled the programme’s goal of reaching 60 million households.
He also promoted $14 billion in new investments by American companies in Africa, including $5 billion from Coca-Cola.
Heeding requests from African leaders, he said the White House would work with Congress to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which grants trade preferences to sub-Saharan countries and expires next year.
“With a narrative that has shifted from war and poverty to growth and development, Mr Obama extolled Africa as an enticing opportunity for the US.
Though he did not mention China, he drew a clear distinction between the American approach and that of China, which has spent lavishly in Africa to lock up sources of minerals,” Wrote Landler in the New York Times.
But, the question is: Will President Obama walk into the dragon’s den—China—and manage to shake Beijing, which is already the darling not only of African leaders, but also, the trade partner of both small, medium and large scale businessmen in Tanzania and elsewhere across Africa?
Take the case of Tanzania for instance, which has vast natural gas resources, minerals, land and many more, China is already financing major projects including the widely criticized $1.3 524km Mtwara-Dar es Salaam gas pipeline through a loan payable in three decades at an interest rates of 3 per cent.
During the visit by Chinese President last year, about 19 deals were signed between Beijing and Dar es Salaam, including the multi-billion dollar modern port project to be constructed in Bagamoyo to service the Great Lakes region.
Scheduled for completion by 2017, though the construction hasn’t started so far, the port at Bagamoyo — northwest of Dar es Salaam — will be able to handle 20 million containers a year or twenty times more cargo than the Dar es Salaam port, which can handle a maximum of 800,000 containers.
The port construction project will include the building of a new 34km road joining Bagamoyo to Mlandizi and 65km of railway connecting Bagamoyo to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) and Central Railway line.
The bilateral deals call for China to commit Sh800 billion ($500 million) in 2013 for starting the port construction.
Yet by the look of things, US firms seem determined – and ready — to defy these odds in order to grab a slice of the trade and investment opportunities, especially in the energy sector, which needs about $8 billion to give Tanzania reliable electricity.
Tanzania plans to have at least 10,000MW by the 2025, when the country expects to achieve its 25-year vision launched in 2000.
Currently, the country’s national grid has the capacity to generate only 1,400MW, which includes electricity produced by independent power producers, which means there are huge opportunities for private investors to shore up the 8,600MW deficit.
Symbion Power Corporation is already selling power to Tanesco, after endorsement of its business in 2012 by former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who visited the company’s 110MW power plants in the heart of Dar es Salaam.
Obama also visited the company’s power plant, a vindication of US race to capture the untapped Tanzania energy sector. Symbion has already teamed up with General Electric to build another 400MW plants in gas-rich region of Mtwara.
While US relations with African countries comes with a string of conditions, such as human rights, democracy, good governance and many more, China’s approach is directly linked to trade and investment — and doesn’t include any political conditions.
In terms of trade and investment, the United States has performed abysmally in Tanzania during the past decade, compared to what Beijing has traded with Dar es Salaam over the same period.
For instance, according to data obtained by The Guardian on Sunday, Tanzania is currently ranked 136th trading partner with the US, valued at a paltry $316 million in total (two-way) goods trade during 2011. But during the same period, Tanzanian’s imports from China were estimated at over $1 billion.
But, can Washington shake Beijing in Tanzania and Africa? Time will tell.
Richard Mgamba, Managing Editor, The Citizen
No comments:
Post a Comment