There will be many African leaders who fear the arrival of a fresh leadership in Washington that promises to end business as usual.
Business as usual for most Africans means a continuation of authoritarian government for more than 90 percent of the 1.4 billion people who live on the continent.
Business as usual also means that most of the $60 billion in annual aid given by the American people to Africa never achieves its development purpose. Instead, it is used, at best, to shore up the provision of basic humanitarian goods where governance has failed; at worst, it is used by regimes to escape their responsibilities to their citizens and to divert expenditure to suit their own narrow interests.
Unlike African leaders who seldom feel the pinch of African economic circumstances, African people bear the brunt of these failures.
Our work across Africa over several decades, from Somaliland to Ghana to Zanzibar, from Malawi to Zambia, has empirically proven that there is a clear correlation between democratic circumstances in Africa and relative peace and prosperity.
We agree that the Paris Agreement on climate change should be revisited. The greatest polluter in Africa is not coal but a lack of electricity. Half of sub-Saharan Africans (some 600 million people) lack access to electricity. While it is fashionable to demand that Africa develop only green energy, the reality is that any form of electricity is less polluting than the absence of electricity. The reality is that without clean gas and some coal, Africa will be denied the opportunity for industrial diversification and job creation that made others, including America, great.
Don’t be fooled by the frequently expressed sentiment that the “Global South” prefers the authoritarianism of China or Russia. Many of its leaders might, hoping to dominate power and accumulate wealth, but ordinary people are not fooled. They prefer to live in democracies with functioning economies.
Africans don’t want to have to make a choice between the United States and China, but if they do, most prefer the democratic way of doing things no matter what their leaders might posture.
We want trade, not aid. America has been a beneficiary in the trade of labour and skills with Africa. We would like to see trade as the backbone of a relationship for this century, since growth in commerce will continue to bring growth in jobs.
Africa has an abundance of strategic minerals that will power technology over the next century. There are big opportunities for trade that benefit both the United States and Africa.
Ending business as usual means also ending war as usual. We admire the energy that you have brought to the peace process in the Middle East. Long may this continue. We would welcome the same application of time and effort in Africa, where longstanding conflicts continue to rage in the Sahel and Horn of Africa.
We admire the principle of improving the efficiency of government. We wish that African leaders and their governments would take heed. AI is changing the world, and we have to find ways to harness these new technologies. This cannot be the preserve only of business. Government has to play its part, too, though we recognize how resistant vested interests will be to change, the more so to first-mover leadership.
America represents one-quarter of the global economy. By the middle of this century, Africa will represent one-quarter of humanity. Let your legacy be a partnership in our future.