Vice President Kamala Harris and Kenyan President William Ruto discussed digital inclusion in Africa at an event on Friday.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 MS.
00:01 PSAKI: Well, good morning, almost good afternoon, and thank you both for joining us.
00:07 It's really a privilege for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and I think our audience.
00:12 So Madam Vice President, I'll start with you, if you don't mind.
00:16 So you have been a leader on Africa policy in the Biden-Harris administration, and you
00:22 visited - Suzanne mentioned Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia last year.
00:27 We missed you in Kenya.
00:30 (Laughter.)
00:31 And you focused specifically on investing in innovation and investing in young people
00:37 and investing in women.
00:38 So why did you take that approach, and what are your lasting impressions from the trip?
00:43 What did you learn that was particularly interesting?
00:45 MS.
00:46 PSAKI: Thank you, Madam Ambassador, and Mr. President, it is good to be with you on this
00:52 stage.
00:53 I strongly believe that we are at a moment where we should revisit and upgrade and update
01:03 the narrative of the relationship between the United States and the continent of Africa.
01:09 When you think about the continent, the median age is 19 years old - 19.
01:19 And it is predicted that by 2050, one in four people occupying space on Mother Earth will
01:29 be on the continent of Africa.
01:32 So when I think of it just from that perspective, many could rightly argue that the future is
01:40 on the continent of Africa.
01:41 (Applause.)
01:42 I also think - and I'll speak very candidly here - that we have to revisit and revise
01:57 the narrative around the relationship in a way that appreciates that ours, the role of
02:03 the United States, should not be one of benevolence, but of thinking about the relationship in
02:11 the context of partnership.
02:14 So it is not about - and simply about aid, but about investment.
02:20 And understanding the capacity that exists and has been proven to be strong on the continent,
02:29 and therefore is worthwhile in terms of an investment, understanding it will yield a
02:34 great return on investment.
02:38 And when I think, Mr. President, in particular about your leadership in Kenya, I think this
02:43 is empirical evidence of the need, of the imperative of the United States, through our
02:50 government and private sector, partnering with Kenyans, with the Kenyan Government,
02:57 in a way that recognizes the extraordinary opportunity for continued investment writ
03:03 large in innovation, thinking about what we must do as a global community around addressing
03:11 crises like the climate crisis, what we can do through those investments that makes clear
03:17 and real what we know to be the growth that - broad-based economic growth that occurs
03:25 wherever and everywhere when you invest in women, and then doing that work through a
03:30 partnership that also appreciates it is good for American business to be invested in relationships
03:41 that contribute to global stability.
03:45 Global stability, of course, results also in global economic stability.
03:50 And so for all of these reasons, I simply believe it is the right thing to do, not to
03:55 mention the intertwined history between the continent and our country, but also if we
04:02 are going to get all forward-thinking, it is an imperative.
04:06 Frankly, as Vice President, I say this as a devout public servant, sadly often our strategy
04:14 around foreign policy is based on the crisis of the moment.
04:18 And part of how I think about the future and the imperative of the relationship with African
04:24 nations is based on a vision that public policy be formed and implemented now based on a vision
04:33 for the next 10, 20, 50 years.
04:36 And again, that all brings me back to the continent of Africa and Kenya as an example
04:40 of a vibrant partnership.
04:41 All right.
04:42 Thank you very much.
04:43 (Applause.)
04:44 The business thing before you have a crisis is a lot easier than waiting until afterwards.
04:55 Mr. President, you have been a tremendous champion for tech and innovation in Kenya
05:01 and its ability to spur economic development and promote opportunity.
05:06 So – and also, by the way, advancing gender equality and inclusion.
05:11 So just love to hear your point of view, maybe your evolving point of view on the power of
05:15 technology and what it can do for Kenya.
05:18 And for those of you who don't know, Kenya was the largest destination for startup capital
05:25 on the continent in 2023, ahead of Nigeria, ahead of South Africa, and ahead of Egypt,
05:30 which is a quite remarkable achievement.
05:31 (Applause.)
05:32 Thank you.
05:33 Thank you very much.
05:34 And thank you very much, Vice President Kamal Harris, for finding time to engage with us.
05:41 And this very important American Chamber of Commerce Kenya meeting.
05:50 Speaking about technology and speaking about opportunities in the technology space, three
05:56 things come to my mind.
05:59 Technology is the facility, is the instrument that we can use to leapfrog Africa from where
06:11 we are to the next – to catch up, if I may, with the rest of the world.
06:17 We have the youngest population.
06:19 That young population is tech-hungry.
06:24 That young population, we have the opportunity to shape it in the direction in which we think
06:30 it should.
06:31 And that is why a country like Kenya, we are investing 30 percent of our budget in education,
06:40 training, knowledge, skills.
06:44 We are investing $5 billion every year.
06:48 And I said earlier, it's money we believe is an investment, because if there is a single
06:55 most important asset that we have is our human capital.
07:01 And as my sister Kamala said, we are looking at the continent that will have a quarter
07:09 of the world's population by 2050.
07:12 Forty percent of the world's workforce will be from the African continent.
07:18 Therefore it is not only about labor, and therefore you need the correct quality of
07:23 labor, it is also about market.
07:27 The biggest market ever will exist in the African continent.
07:31 And therefore technology is the biggest enabler, the biggest multiplier of what can be done.
07:42 And I see it every day.
07:44 For example, M-Pesa took Kenya from a banking ratio of, I think, about 20 percent and tripled
07:56 it, you know, just using technology.
08:00 Many more Kenyans, including my mother who was not going to school, she operated better.
08:06 She knows how to do it, you know.
08:08 So that's what happens to many people in Kenya.
08:12 So we look at technology as an enabler and as a mechanism through which we can use the
08:22 biggest resource we have in our young people, and we can also use it to better deliver agriculture,
08:32 health, education, tax collection, government services.
08:39 In fact, for Kenya, we are moving all government services.
08:43 When I came into office, we had 300 government services.
08:46 We've now moved 17,000 government services on the digital platform.
08:51 Because that is where the future is.
08:54 That's how we can be able to efficiently deliver government services, cost-effectively deliver
09:01 government services, accountably deliver government services.
09:05 So accountability, efficiency, efficacy, the technology enables us to do all that much
09:15 more efficiently.
09:16 Therefore, Madam Kamala Harris, you have focused in the right direction on technology, digital
09:24 space, young people, women.
09:28 I think that that space is the space that will give us the greatest output as we go
09:34 into the future.
09:35 I think it's, for example, the reason just before you came in, we have signed in to a
09:44 billion-dollar investment using American technology from Microsoft, capabilities from G42, capital
09:54 resources from G42, and renewable energy from Kenya, because Kenya has the extra asset of
10:05 having tech-savvy human capital.
10:08 G42 will tell you, and Microsoft – and I'm sure they are in this meeting – Microsoft
10:14 will tell you some of their best human capital comes from Kenya.
10:19 [Applause]
10:27 Madam Vice President, you might be interested to know that Kenya is the home to the only
10:31 semiconductor technology on the continent, and 70 percent of their engineers are women.
10:36 So, pretty impressive.
10:38 [Applause]
10:41 So, I know how hard you've been working on the digital inclusion project, and I think
10:45 today you're going to talk a little bit about the progress that you've made and
10:49 building on the trip that you made to Africa.
10:52 So maybe you can bring us up to speed on what you've accomplished and how you're feeling
10:56 about the whole program.
10:57 I will.
10:58 First, I just must thank you, Meg Whitman, for taking us to tradition of being an ambassador.
11:07 I've known the ambassador for a long time, I say with a bit of bravado, in California.
11:13 And your work and your groundbreaking work in technology is extraordinary, and this is
11:21 just the perfect moment that you would step up and serve in this capacity, and I thank
11:26 you for that.
11:27 [Applause]
11:33 So, digital inclusion was at the heart of the idea for this initiative that is focused
11:40 on the continent.
11:42 And I want to thank a few people who I know are here.
11:44 Brad Smith is here, Michael Neibach is here.
11:48 It was companies like Microsoft, MasterCard, foundations.
11:54 Melinda French Gates was one of the earliest to contribute as much as $10 million for the
12:00 women in digital inclusion, focused on women, on the Ford Foundation.
12:04 And so, essentially, this is how it all happened, simplified version.
12:10 I got on the phone and I called a bunch of people.
12:13 And I called them to say, I know that you have some interest based on the work that
12:20 you've done before.
12:21 Can we collaborate in a focused way that develops synergy around a public-private partnership?
12:28 And the foundation for the work being digital inclusion, understanding that all business
12:34 at this point is tech business, and any business, any economy that is going to grow, much less
12:42 be sustainable between now and the future, must integrate and adapt and adopt technology
12:50 in a very, in an institutional way.
12:54 And this includes, as you described, Mr. President, your mother.
12:57 It includes that it must be the people, not just the governments and the corporations,
13:02 that understand how the technology works.
13:04 Another piece of the focus was something I've long believed many of us do.
13:09 If we are focused on strengthening economies, one of the smartest ways to do that is to
13:16 invest in women.
13:17 The reality is that when you improve the economic condition of the economy, when you improve
13:23 the economic condition of women, you improve the economic condition of families, communities,
13:29 and all society benefits.
13:31 So a lot of the work then, in terms of the initial design, was to think of it that way.
13:37 It was also to layer upon the initiative what are the current crises that we must address
13:45 in a way that we see opportunity for economic growth, the climate crisis being an obvious
13:50 one, the climate crisis having a direct impact on agricultural economies.
13:56 And knowing then that we are developing the most extraordinary, smart technology to help
14:03 farmers, and when they have access to technology, when they are able to get online, the services
14:11 that are available will help them with crop management, will help them determine what
14:19 crop they should plant this season based on satellite technology which can predict the
14:24 weather for that period of time so they are not bound by tradition.
14:29 Technology which helps farmers determine whether there is too much water in drought conditions
14:36 that are being used on a specific plant, too much fertilizer, which we know has an impact
14:41 on the climate.
14:43 All of this is facilitated, these traditions, these traditional ways of either growing or
14:49 not growing economies can be facilitated, like you said, Mr. President, when we look
14:54 at the issue of digital inclusion.
14:56 So we developed this partnership that is a public-private partnership.
15:00 I know that Michael and Brad talked earlier about what we are doing specifically, but
15:04 the vision is that we can, and U.S. businesses in particular, can partner with our allies
15:14 in a way that invests in the infrastructure, that allows these economies to thrive.
15:20 I will also say I'm a big believer in public-private partnerships for two main reasons.
15:26 One, we as a government, we have the scale, we have the ability to scale.
15:33 But truly, the private sector has the depth of skill and expertise, that when you combine
15:41 it with the scale capacity of government, can have a profound impact on large populations
15:46 of people.
15:47 The second point I would make, especially as Vice President, is that through these public-private
15:52 partnerships, I can speak then with our allies or potential partners around the globe.
15:57 I'm doing this work, for example, in the Northern Party of Central America.
16:01 And I can then sit down with leaders and explain that private investment, U.S. investment,
16:09 will be dependent and reliant on rule of law, on democracy, on an adherence and respect
16:19 for human rights.
16:21 And I understand then in that way the power of public-private partnerships, especially
16:26 when we are talking about these relationships around the globe, understanding that increasingly
16:33 U.S. business is interdependent and interdependent with our allies and nations around the world.
16:41 And these partnerships then make a lot of sense.
16:45 MS.
16:46 PSAKI: Let me follow that up quickly, and we have just a few more minutes.
16:49 But, Mr. President, tell us a little bit of how you think about these partnerships and
16:54 how you think about Americans since we're here in America, how you think about the American
16:58 companies and how they're helping you to skill, to build out this ecosystem.
17:03 FOREIGN MINISTER NDIKUMALE: Vice President Kamala Harris has said a very profound thing
17:09 about relationships, building the correct relationship.
17:14 We need to recalibrate our engagement.
17:22 Let me start with where we were at the Africa Climate Summit last year.
17:26 At the Africa Climate Summit last year, we pushed to change the narrative around Africa.
17:35 For a long time, it was about blame game, who caused this, why this has happened.
17:42 We decided we cannot continue to be in the victim corner.
17:49 Let's get ourselves and project a new narrative.
17:54 Kenya and Africa can be part of the solution.
17:59 (Applause.)
18:04 And for a moment, it looked strange because people were wondering.
18:10 We thought we were victims of climate change.
18:13 We thought we didn't cause it.
18:15 Africa caused only 4 percent.
18:17 How can we be part of the solution?
18:19 We're saying we have the largest resources of renewable energy.
18:26 We have the youngest population.
18:29 We have 60 percent of the world's arable land, which we can use smart agriculture.
18:34 We have the natural carbon sinks.
18:37 We have the largest minerals that are even necessary for energy transition.
18:41 Why is a rich continent in a corner looking weak and defeated and a victim?
18:49 So we decided to change the narrative.
18:51 And for the first time, we had a different conversation.
18:55 We are discussing, since we have tremendous potential, how do we move this to opportunity and to investment?
19:04 That is the conversation.
19:06 So that's point number one.
19:07 And we must have it both ways.
19:09 We have some work to do on our side.
19:12 Our partners like the U.S. have some work to do.
19:17 Aid will not get us anywhere.
19:21 Extracting raw materials from Africa will not get us anywhere.
19:25 So it's with balance.
19:27 We must stop the extraction, but we must also think outside aid.
19:32 And the place to think is about investment.
19:36 And when you are thinking investment, you must think about how to bring both public and private investment.
19:43 And that is why private-public engagement is active.
19:48 It is necessary.
19:50 I'll give you examples.
19:52 We have the most modern expressway in Nairobi.
19:59 It wasn't built using government money.
20:02 It was built using private sector money in a PPP framework.
20:08 It's working.
20:10 I am now doing a PPP framework for energy transmission.
20:16 We're doing the first five transmission lines in Kenya.
20:20 Why should government invest money in a transmission line when we can only pay a weekly charge for somebody in the private sector who can invest their money?
20:29 We're looking at how we can also do it with the airport, how we can do it with the port, how we can do it with the rest.
20:35 So that way, we can bring huge investment money into our economies without necessarily contracting debt or looking for aid.
20:47 Let me give a perfect example today here.
20:51 We just signed an investment of a billion dollars.
20:56 You know, it would take me ages to get a billion dollars from any government, including the American government.
21:06 It would take us that long too.
21:09 [Laughter]
21:12 You know, it would take me ages.
21:14 But the private sector can do it.
21:17 They will bring the billion dollars because it makes business sense to them.
21:22 You know, they are investing, they will make money, we will use our geothermal, we will employ our young people, they will pay taxes, everybody will win, they will make profits.
21:32 So it is win-win.
21:34 So we must also, as government, as Africa, we must make ourselves investment ready.
21:44 So that by eliminating barriers, eliminating roadblocks, making it easy for those who want to invest in our corner to do so.
21:53 And that is why, one more thing, that is why we are having an engagement to make sure that Africa is not unfairly profiled as a risky continent.
22:05 And thereby making investors... [Applause]
22:14 And this is the reason why I was having a very robust engagement with President Biden.
22:20 And I must thank him, protestly, because he agreed with me that we need a reform of the international financial architecture so that we make it fair,
22:31 so that all countries, all continents can have first finances without unnecessary profiling and without making them pay more than they should.
22:43 [Applause]
22:47 To give you a hint, I think we are having the right conversation.
22:51 I think we are having the right conversation.
22:54 And a conversation around having a level playing field so that both public and especially the private sector can do what they do best.
23:06 And government can facilitate and do what we can do best.
23:10 Well, thank you very much.
23:11 [Applause]
23:17 But I want to commend your leadership on this subject.
23:20 Thank you for what you do for Africa.
23:22 And if you want to just say one last word, we really, really...
23:24 A round of applause for the Vice President.
23:26 [Applause]
23:32 I will emphasize the point that President Muto made.
23:35 The capacity that we have in public-private partnership is being illustrated around our focus on the continent of Africa.
23:44 And let it be an example.
23:46 As we think about future forward policy, that is where the future is.
23:55 We in government don't have not only necessarily the depth of the skill, but we cannot pull together the billions of dollars, to your point,
24:04 that we can do with these kinds of partnerships that will have exponential and immediate impact.
24:10 And I'll just close with this.
24:12 President Muto, I think that your trip and your visit, this state visit, is --
24:19 history will show an inflection point in how we are revising and upgrading the narrative of the relationship between the United States and the continent of Africa.
24:30 And I thank you.
24:31 [Applause]