Promise of more vaccines for continent

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden announced a major new Covid vaccine donation for Africa last week and promised greater commitment to the continent as he welcomed his first African leader, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta.

Meeting at the White House, Biden and the Kenyan president promised to work together on climate change and ending violence in the Horn of Africa.

Biden said the US would donate 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the AU, on top of the 50 million doses sent.

”As a continent, we are lagging well behind the rest of the world in terms of being able to vaccinate our people,” Kenyatta said. ”So, any additional support like the president just mentioned is greatly welcomed, and we look forward to that continued partnership.”

Biden has vowed a leadership role for Washington on vaccines at a time infections remain stubbornly high in parts of the US where people refuse widely available shots.

Most of sub-Saharan Africa has vaccination rates in the single digits, at the mercy of foreign donations due to the lack of indigenous production and prohibitive costs of mass purchases.

Kenyatta is the first African leader to visit Biden’s White House amid a slowdown of travel and summits as a Covid-19 precaution.

”I’m committed to further elevating our ties with Kenya and nations across Africa as a whole. But Kenya is the key,” Biden said.

He promised a new focus on democracy after the courting of autocratic leaders by his predecessor Donald Trump who made no secret of his lack of interest in Africa.

Kenya was wracked by political violence including after the 2017 elections but Kenyatta has since made peace with his rival Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta, who has vowed to fight corruption, came days after the Pandora Papers investigation which found that Kenyatta and six of family members, owned a network of 11 offshore companies, one valued at $30 million (about R444m).

Biden did not address the allegations during a media briefing but called for “strengthening financial transparency” and praised Kenyatta’s record.

”I want to thank you for your leadership in defending the peace, security and democratic instincts of the region and your country,” Biden said. “You’re doing a good job.”

Kenyatta is the president of the UN Security Council and, in that capacity, has pushed to end fighting in neighboring Ethiopia, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing extreme hunger.

Kenya is a longstanding US security partner, working closely in another neighbor, Somalia, in combatting Al-Shabaab jihadists.

Kenyatta said he was speaking to Biden about the “fight against terrorism” and about climate change, ahead of a high-stakes UN conference in Glasgow next month.

”Our country, our continent is the least in terms of emitting but pays the highest price,” he said.

Kenyatta also made a pitch on trade. The Trump administration began talks with Kenya on a freetrade deal; little progress was made but Biden has shown scant signs of restarting talks. Trade “is vital not only in terms of further entrenching American interests on the continent but also in helping us achieve our social-economic agenda,” he said.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Biden administration would be working closely with Kenya on trade, adding: “We are thinking through how we approach foreign trade.”