Lighting Africa will be an Obama legacy, White House says

A US plan to bring electricity to millions of Kenyans and other Africans "will no doubt be a legacy of President Obama," a White House official said on Wednesday.

Gayle Smith, an Africa specialist on the National Security Council, also cited the East African Community's "tremendous foundation" as a reason why the Obama administration is focusing its Africa trade-development efforts on the EAC that includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

Ms Smith spoke with reporters in a teleconference that reviewed the purposes and achievements of Mr Obama's recent week-long visit to Africa.

The Power Africa initiative unveiled by President Obama in Cape Town is intended to eventually double the number of African households with access to electricity.

A total of $7 billion in US government funds will be used to leverage $9 billion in private-sector investments in power generation in an initial group of countries that includes Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia.

Ms Smith said the Obama administration will provide risk insurance and export subsidies to "prime the pump to increase the probability that private capital will come into play in large-scale power projects" in Africa.

"The way to finance this infrastructure is through the private sector," she said.

Ms Smith also outlined Mr Obama's previously announced Trade Africa initiative focused initially on doubling trade within the EAC and increasing its members' exports to the United States by 40 per cent.

She said it is important to encourage regional trade blocs because they offer bigger markets and also because "countries that are weaker can be carried along a little bit by countries that are stronger."

The US will be providing the EAC with technical assistance and technology advancements to help bolster its intra-regional and international trade, she said.

US officials will also be working with Trademark East Africa, a Nairobi-based trade-development group, Ms Smith said.