Obama pledges $7 billion to upgrade power in Africa

CNN ^ | Updated 0044 GMT (0844 HKT) July 1, 2013 | By Faith Karimi and Matt Smith, CNN

[vannrox]

U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $7 billion Sunday to help combat frequent power blackouts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Funds from the initiative, dubbed Power Africa, will be distributed over the next five years. Obama made the announcement during his trip to South Africa, the continent's biggest economy.

"Access to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in this age. It's the light that children study by, the energy that allows an idea to be transformed into a real business. It's the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs, and it's the connection that's needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy," he said.

Two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to electricity, including more than 85% of those living in rural areas, the White House said. "A light where currently there is darkness -- the energy to lift people out of poverty -- that's what opportunity looks like," Obama told students at Cape Town University. "So this is America's vision: a partnership with Africa for growth, and the potential for every citizen, not just a few at the top." President Barack Obama kicks around an energy-generating soccer ball at a power plant in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Tuesday, July 2. Obama was pushing for partnerships in energy as he concluded a three-nation trip to Africa. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, third from right, joined Obama at the Symbion Power Plant at Ubungo.

Obamas invoke Mandela's legacy 01:43 The program includes $1.5 billion from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation and $5 billion from the Export-Import Bank, the White House said. Sub-Saharan Africa will need more than $300 billion to achieve universal electricity access by 2030, it said. The preliminary setup will include Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.

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[vannrox]

EVERYONE SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS. Who authorized this? Congress? How will this money HELP Americans? 7 Billion dollars could have gone a Looooonnnnnggggg way to employing Americans. Isn't this TREASON?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Time to move on, Rip van Winkle. It’s the dawn of a new era.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Wonder how all those windmills worked out?

At least they had a plentiful supply of dead birds for meals.

[wardamneagle]

Not !

[Chode]

somebody please tell me this is something Trump can stop.

[mylife]

The same lying Obama that said they could not have electricity or air conditioning because it would destroy the planet?

[central_va]

Tell me this is on Trump’s kill sheet.

[IWontSubmit]

More well meaning monies down the African bottomless pit.
Then they overbreed and have to migrate.

[vannrox]

“In Cape Town, South Africa over the weekend, President Obama talked about a new energy plan called “Power Africa.” He described it as “a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.” The president implied that the U.S. government will invest $7 billion in taxpayer money to help bring 10,000 mw of electricity to sub-Saharan Africa. Electricity, he said, is “the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs and it’s the connection needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy. You’ve got to have power.”

Go here;
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/07/01/with-power-africa-plan-obama-to-grease-billions-in-deals-for-g-e/#4184255a29d3

[Rembrandt]

If the average person were deeply in debt yet gave significant monetary gifts to people he’d never met, he’d prob be put in a loony bin.

[Spktyr]

Yup, Congress funded this as part of USAID. USAID is a government funded and run ‘charity’ for foreign countries.

[mylife]

Big mouth has a big wallet...

Oh wait! It aint his money!

[left that other site]

Sunday?

He was kicked out FRIDAY!

[mylife]

“Access to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in this age. It’s the light that children study by,”

Didn’t this insufferable chuckleheaed study by candlelight in Indonesia?

Just like Abe /s

[day10]

Ahhh, he’s starting his own version of the Clinton Foundation.

[vannrox]

From Forbes...

In addition to General Electric, the White House also said that private companies lined up to invest include Heirs Holdings, the investment vehicle of Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu, which will recieve $2.5 billion. Aldwych International, a Dutch-backed company, plans to use the money to build a 400 mw wind power project in Kenya. And then there's Symbion Power, which is run by Lord Richard Westbury, a former officer with the British special forces, and which counts former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson (husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame) as a director. Symbion has done a handful of power projects in Iraq, and recently completed a 55 mw diesel-powered electricity project in Tanzania.

According to the White House, smaller projects competing in an "Off-Grid Energy Challenge" within the Power Africa plan will be funded with $2 million from the U.S. African Development Foundation.

These will likely include Soccket, a soccer ball with a built in electric generator that harnesses and stores the kinetic energy generated by kicking the ball around. Bill Gates is an investor. Apparently there was one of these balls on Air Force One. White House aide Mike Froman explained the idea to the press pool on Air Force One: "Kids play soccer all day long. They take the thing, the ball home, and you can plug a lamp into it and they can read at night. Or they can plug a cell phone charger into it." It's more a gimmick than a solution, but every little bit helps.

How does this HELP Americans?

[Paladin2]

Where is 0bama and why won't the media track him 24/7?

You never know when an interview to be the basis of Fake News might be needed.

[Repeal The 17th]

I realize the article you posted is from 2013.
It is interesting to note that President Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order.

[DennisR]

Yeah...that $7 billion will really be put to a good purpose. /s

[lurk]

Bet that money went into the pockets of some close friends.