Ruto joins African leaders to launch 'Mission 300' aimed at electrifying 300 million people

The African Heads of State Energy Summit also brought together global leaders from the financial and philanthropic sectors for the launch of the programme aimed at accelerating Africa’s electrification.

Named ‘Mission 300’, the initiative seeks to deliver affordable and sustainable power to more than half of the 600 million people in the continent without electricity by 2030.

Giving the keynote address at the summit, President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania said: “This summit goes beyond energy; it is about empowering families, lifting millions out of poverty, providing hope and opportunities for the youth.”

Present at the function were several Heads of State and Government, among them President Mohamed Ould Ghazaouani of Mauritania, who is also the Chair of the African Union.

Key partners in the new electrification drive include the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), The Rockefeller Foundation and the African Union.

The World Bank is injecting between $ 30 billion and $40 billion into the project, while AfDB is investing $18 billion over the five year period, making it the single largest public-private-philanthropic partnership in Africa.

“Mission 300 is the cornerstone of the jobs agenda and the foundation of future growth,” World Bank President Ajay Banga said.

The collaborative effort emphasises clean cooking solutions that are expected to prevent 600,000 deaths of women and children annually due to smoke exposure.

Without a collaborative approach, President Hassan noted that most of Africa’s population without power would still be in the dark by 2030.

AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said the 300 Million initiative is an expansion of the banks’ 2016 New Deal on Energy for Africa, which has connected 25 million people and increased power access in the continent from 39 per cent to 52 per cent between 2015 and 2024.

“Despite the progress made, Africa still has 571 million people without electricity, accounting for 81 per cent of the global population without electricity,” he said.

The Heads of State and Governments present signed the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration, outlining practical actions to be undertaken by the leaders to accelerate energy sector reforms in their respective countries.

Further, the deliberations also yielded the first set of National Energy Compacts, which will serve as blueprints with country-specific targets and timeliness for implementation of critical reforms.

Dr Adesina commended African leaders for embracing the initiative, saying it would spur economic growth and job creation especially in an increasingly digital age.

“You will be remembered as Presidents who said let there be light, and there was light,” he said.

Also at the summit were Dr Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Mr Makhtar Diop, the managing director of the International Finance Corporation and Mr Patrick Pouyanné, the CEO of Total.

On the sidelines of the summit, President Ruto held talks with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, and discussed how to deal with the raging conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

He also met Mr Shah, and explored possible areas of collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation in expanding Kenya’s school feeding programme.