Kenya is the 'Start-Point' of Trump's Africa Policy

Kenya has been named as "anchor" country for the much awaited Africa policy which president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, will unveil tomorrow.

John Bolton, the National Security Advisor to the U.S. president who is known for his strict foreign-political views, will outline the new approach which his country will adopt in dealing with Africa.

In a report, Kenya's Daily Nation confirmed that Kenya will be named an "anchor" country in the new Africa blueprint.

Last week, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs, Tibor P. Nagy, Jr, while speaking on the much anticipated African policy said:

"The policy will be rolled out in the near future - and said much of the recently ratified BUILD Act , which doubles the assets of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation from $30 billion to $60 billion, will focus on the developing world.

"So I think that you can see that a lot of that focus is going to be on bringing foreign direct investment to Africa, because as we all know, that for an area to truly, truly develop, it requires tremendous amounts of outside direct investment. 

You know, we can talk about the development assistance, but there is never really enough money in any kind of development assistance to actually develop the country, but there’s a tremendous amount of foreign direct investment out there looking for a place to invest, and as I have told a number of African leaders, I will be delighted to push U.S. investors towards Africa; I need their help in pulling them by establishing an environment which is friendly to investors and what we call a level playing field so American businesses can have the same chance as businesses from other places, and a rules-based system.

"What I want is by the end of the administration that we can say that some of the countries in Africa will have made tremendous progress towards actually developing and not eternally being developing, but to get to 'developed'."

It is no news that Kenya is an ally of the United States and it appears that the presidency is more comfortable with using the country as a route to Africa.

"The White House strategy is expected to name several countries as anchors for the US strategy, and experts close to the administration expect the list to include Kenya, a longstanding US ally," NBC News reported on Monday.

Mr. Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has been tasked with the honour of presenting the Africa blueprint in a speech at the Heritage Foundation.

It is believed that the policy will enable the United States to strengthen her influence in Africa especially as China continues to gain dominance in the continent.

Joshua Meservey, the Heritage Foundation's Africa specialist, said in an email on Tuesday that US corporations will be encouraged to invest in select African countries.

"I expect that part of operationalising enhanced relationships with countries will include trying to facilitate, in various ways, US companies' greater involvement in Africa.

"I expect Ambassador Bolton will reaffirm the administration's recognition of geopolitical competition as the most urgent challenge to US interests," Mr. Meservey added.

"In the Africa context, that means responding especially to China, but also Russia, Iran and the DPRK [North Korea]."

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Header image Credit: PSCU