Nuclearize Africa: It Is Necessary To End Poverty and Hunger

In the article below; Energy for Africa: The Power to Industrialize and Reach Zero Poverty, author PD Lawton, creator of the website, africanagenda.net, discusses the progress by African nations in acquiring nuclear energy. As the article makes clear, “nuclear technology will enable countries to realize more than 9 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.” Nuclear energy will supply the power for the industrialization of African nations.

Let us be blunt: African nations will not achieve true stability, peace, and democracy until poverty and hunger are eliminated! From decades of examining  the physical economies of Africa, I can say with complete authority, as long as large sections of the population of African nations are desperately attempting to simply survive and find ways to feed their families everyday, there will not peace, security, and democracy. Abundant and and inexpensive energy, with 100% access by the population and industry is the bedrock of any successful economy. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) needs minimally, 1,000 gigawatts of additional energy. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts. SSA presently has a mere 100,000-130,000 megawatts-100 to130 gigawatts. All forms of energy generation must be employed to power African economies. However, even clean hydro-electric is limited by the flow of water, as we have witnessed recently in energy shortages in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Nuclear energy is the most efficient form of power society currently operates. The technology is well known and safe. Delaying the construction of nuclear powers across the African continent will only contribute to more misery and death for Africans. Thus, nuclear energy should become an increasingly larger portion of new energy for African nations, beginning today! 

Read:

ENERGY for Africa : The Power to Industrialize and Reach Zero Poverty

Read: Nuclear Energy Can Bridge the Skills Gap in Africa

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton

 

President Kagame is Right: Africa Must Get Covid19 Vaccinations. It is Morally and Economically Just.

People aged over 70 receive free Covid testing in Kigali, Rwanda, in January. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock

February 9, 2021

The Guardian on February 7, published an insightful statement from Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, on the importance of vaccinating Africans, entitled: Until Africans get the Covid vaccinations they need, the whole world will suffer.

President Kagame correctly concludes: Ensuring equitable access to vaccines globally during a pandemic is not only a moral issue, but an economic imperative to protect the wellbeing of people everywhere. But when will Africa get the protection it needs? If all lives are equal, why isn’t access to vaccines?

I completely agree with President Kagame. It is both immoral and economically stupid not to vaccinate every human being as quickly as possible, and without cost. Let me briefly summarize.

1) Every human being is bestowed by the Creator with the power of creative reason. Thus, every human being is sacred. Society should spare no effort to preserve human life. This is a requirement of civilization. After all, we are not Malthusians, who believe the world is over populated.

2) Until the Covid19 virus is eliminated across the world, no nations or peoples are safe from the virus and its mutations. Therefore, it is criminally stupid not to vaccinate every single person on the planet as quickly as possible.

3) The global economy will also suffer, if more human beings are unable to work or die due to sickness from Covid19. Economic production and trade will shrink, lowering the physical standard of living throughout the world.

4) It is cheaper to vaccinate everyone for free than pay for exorbitant medical costs to treat patients with Covid19.

5) Let us use this horrible crisis to unite all nations in a global effort to not only eradicate this deadly virus, but upgrade the healthcare system of African nations, enabling them to properly respond to the needs of their people

Below is the full text of President Kagame’s column.

The current situation with regard to the access and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines vividly illustrates the decades-old contradictions of the world order.

Rich and powerful nations have rushed to lock up supply of multiple vaccine candidates. Worse, some are hoarding vaccines – purchasing many times more doses than they need. This leaves African and other developing countries either far behind in the vaccine queue, or not in it at all.

There are worrying signs of vaccine nationalism in Europe and North America. The pressures on political leaders to vaccinate all their citizens before sharing supplies with others is understandable. But forcing smaller or poorer countries to wait until everyone in the north has been catered for is shortsighted.

Delaying access to vaccines for citizens of developing countries is ultimately many times more costly. The pandemic will rage on, crippling the global economy. New mutations may continue to emerge at a more rapid pace. The world risks reversing decades of human development gains and eclipsing the 2030 sustainable development goals.

In this context, the billions of dollars it would cost to distribute vaccines across the developing world is not particularly high, given the return on the investment. Doing so would unlock global commerce, which would benefit all trading nations during the long road to economic recovery that lies ahead of us. We need global value chains to be fully operational again and to include everyone.

Last year, the world came together to provide additional fiscal space for developing countries through the debt service suspension initiative at the G20. This helped governments in Africa pay for their Covid responses and provide additional social protection, thereby preventing the worst outcomes. We shouldn’t lose that spirit now and give in to an unfortunate erosion of global solidarity.

The Covax facility, led by the World Health Organization, was supposed to ensure doses for 20% of Africa’s people – right from the start and at the same time as richer countries. However, nearly two months after the first vaccines have been administered, it is still not clear when African nations will be able to start immunising people, though the first doses may begin reaching the continent later this month.

What can be done in practical terms? The rich world can help developing countries get the same fair prices that they have already negotiated for themselves. One pharmaceutical firm is reportedly planning to charge $37 per dose for “small orders”. Recently, one African country reported being asked to pay more than double the price that the European Union had negotiated for the same product.

During natural disasters, price gouging for essential supplies is illegal. It should not be tolerated for vaccines during a pandemic either. If prices are fair, and Africa is allowed to place orders, many countries on the continent would be willing and able to pay for themselves. But, given the current market structure, they will need active support from more powerful countries to do so.

The African Union and Afreximbank have set up the Africa Medical Supplies Platform to help countries secure financing by providing advance commitment guarantees of up to $2bn to manufacturers. The platform has negotiated an initial order of 270m doses, but this is still very far from the 60% coverage Africa needs to achieve some measure of herd immunity, and there is no telling when those supplies will be available.

Africa is not sitting back and waiting for charity. We have learned our lessons from the past. All we ask for is transparency and fairness in vaccine access, not the protectionism currently in play.

ReadUntil Africans Get Covid Vaccinations They Need, Whole World Will Suffer

Watch my interview on RT TV from January: Africa must be vaccinated

Read my earlier postsInternational Cooperation and Collaboration Needed to Save Lives in Africa From COVID-19New Economic Order Required to Combat COVID-19 in Africa

 Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

 

South African Pres. Ramaphosa Calls For End to Poverty and a New Global Deal

UN General Assembly celebrating 75th anniversary virtually - YouTube

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa in his address to the United Nations calls for the necessity to end poverty in Africa and the need to establish a New Global Deal that provides affordable credit. I fully support these goals. I have advocated for the creation of a New Bretton Woods for decades. Without a new international financial architecture that provides long-term low-interest credit to developing nations for infrastructure, African nations will not be able to fulfill their ambition to end poverty.

Address by President of the Republic of South Africa and African Union Chair, President Cyril Ramaphosa at the 75th United Nations General Assembly Debate, September 22, 2020

Excerpts below:

“When the Secretary-General António Guterres delivered the 18th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in July 2020, he called on the nations of the world to forge a New Social Contract and a New Global Deal.

“He said we must create equal opportunities for all, that we must advance a more inclusive and balanced multilateral trading system, that debt architecture must be reformed, and that there should be greater access to affordable credit for developing countries…

“As the African Union we are encouraged by the collaboration of the G20, the IMF, the World Bank and the UN towards finding solutions to debt sustainability in developing countries.

“It is a call we as South Africa wholly endorse.

“This pandemic has highlighted the urgency with which we must strive to meet all the Sustainable Development Goals, but more importantly Goal 1 – to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.

“For until we eradicate global poverty, we will always fall short of realizing the vision of the founders of the United Nations…

“Together, we must raise our level of ambition to ensure that every man, every woman and every child has an equal chance at a better future.

“It is a future free of hunger, disease, insecurity and war.” (emphassis added)

Read full speech: South Africa Pres Ramaphosa Address to the UN

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in the economic development policy of Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

Fruitful Cooperation: Ethiopia and China’s Belt and Road

Celebrating the inauguration of the new Addis Ababa to Djibouti railway on October 6, 2016, which I attended

 

China-Ethiopia dialogue highlights sustainable investment under BRI

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) — Ethiopia is hoping to attract more sustainable investment from Chinese enterprises as fruitful cooperations have been carried out under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

At the China-Ethiopia High-Level Dialogue on Sustainable Investment held in Beijing on Friday, both Chinese and Ethiopian officials expressed their hope to consolidate collaborations to boost the achievements of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Aschalew Tadesse Mecheso, a senior official with Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), said Ethiopia looks forward to more investment in the sectors of information and communication technology and light industries so as to create more jobs for young people who account for around 70 percent of the country’s population.

Aiming to facilitate knowledge exchanges and build networks to promote sustainable investment in Ethiopia, the event attracted over 200 participants from governments, industries, development agencies and think tanks.

Guo Xuejun with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway as an example of the fruitful cooperations between the two countries under the BRI.

Apart from the railway that has significantly shortened the time of transporting goods from Ethiopia to Djibouti, he also mentioned a new economic cluster that is emerging along the railway with the construction and development of several industrial parks.

China looks forward to working with Ethiopia to initiate more connectivity projects that are high-quality, sustainable, resilient, affordable, inclusive, accessible and broadly beneficial, Guo said.

The country is also dedicated to promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, opposes protectionism and aims to make greater contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said.

Beate Trankmann, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, said the BRI’s key projects, which focus on connectivity and integration, could help unlock the funding and know-how to fulfill the SDGs, if relevant investments follow sustainability criteria and principles of the SDGs.

At the event, organized by the UNDP and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China’s embassy in Ethiopia and the EIC, investors also discussed the opportunities and challenges to invest in Ethiopia