China-Africa Center

On December 13, 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the new Garissa Solar Power Plant, Africa’s largest solar energy plants consisting of 206,232 solar photovoltaic panels sitting on 85 hectares of land and raising Kenya’s energy production capacity by 54 megawatts. Concurrently, the conference on “China-Africa energy cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative” cohosted by the Africa Policy Institute and the Chinese energy giant, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and its think tank, the Economics & Technology Research Institute CNPCETRI was held in Nairobi. The two events, reflected the continents needs of a broad-based strategic partnership to secure investments and technology to close the energy gap, exit the squalor of energy have-nots and join the league of rich energy haves.

The internationally acclaimed Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe persuaded us that the trouble with Africa “is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.” But leadership failure is as ubiquitous across nations and civilizations as the oxygen we breath. In the 21st century, the trouble with Africa is simply and squarely the failure of its leadership to invest in energy. The result is a frightfully widening energy gap, responsible for poverty, joblessness and underdevelopment.