Provoking Indeed!
Alden’s two articles are
peculiar, provoking, and perhaps shallow to an otherwise sure prosperity EASSy
big step, as clearly summarised in the article’s first paragraph. While NEPAD[1] and EU are
negotiating[2] financing of
the project, the author claims, “African governments and World Bank that are
being asked to help finance another … this one is called…
etc”
In real terms (and for
conceptualisation purpose), the cited US$ 200 million is far short of the
estimated US$ 213 million Kenya alone spends annually
educating her children abroad, mainly in the UK, and yet this US$ 200m is the
cost for the entire EASSy cable from South Africa upwards to southern Sudan. The
author even gets emotive in trying too hard to discredit the project. Please
give Africa credit sometimes!
The “parastatial telecommunication bureaucracies” is distasteful since parastatals such as Safaricom Limited in Kenya are extremely profitable and other investors should explore similar partnerships with the various EASSy governments?
[1] NEPAD is the Political and Economic arm of the African Union, politics and economics being inseparable.