‘Uninformed entities must not push Africa’s energy drive’

ENTITIES visiting the African continent occasionally and lack a genuine understanding of its complexities must not define and drive the future of Africa’s energy, according to experts at the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in South Africa.

This is unacceptable, said the African Energy Chamber, which rejected the notion and mindset that Africans were somehow unqualified to lead and host significant events such as Investing in African Mining Indaba on their own land.

The African Energy Executive Chamber Chairman, N.J. Ayuk, in a statement issued on Thursday was quoted saying such mindset had led environmental groups and Western countries to suggest they knew what was best for Africa as they pressurised leaders into energy transition decisions not in Africa’s best interests.

“This kind of decision-making, this suggestion that Africans are somehow unqualified to run Mining indaba or a mining investment event, and we have to beg a small UK outfit (Hyve Group) full of latte liberators with their fancy ideas about African energy to do it for, epitomises the same kind of mindset that African oil- and gas-producing states have been encountering when it comes to their energy transition.

“They are defining the transition for you without you being on the table. They are defining and driving the agenda. You are not on the table. You are on the menu. It is the same mindset that, in part, inspired me to do this work that I think is of critical importance for a just, Africa-first energy transition,” Mr Ayuk said.

And Tom Alweendo, Mines and Energy Minister of Namibia, was quoted saying: “The idea that Africans are somehow incapable of managing their own affairs, is tiring.

“It is time we take full charge of our own destiny, while doing so in collaboration with likeminded partners.”