WTO Job: Kenyan Backs Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala Against Country |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

Former Nigeria Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala’s hope of heading the World Trade Organization, WTO , has received a boost.

Renowned Kenyan lawyer, Professor Patrick Lumumba, has pitched his tent with Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala in the race for the job.

Lumumba, who served as the Director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission,  and is from the same country as Amina Mohamed, who is,  also,  running for the top job, said Africa should rally round Okonjo-Iweala and  ensure she secures the job.

The Human Right Activist said this during during an interview with Osasu Igbinedion on The Osasu Show.

He said no other African candidate comes close to Okonjo-Iweala on the strength of credentials that they tendered.

“Africans have a way of impeding the success of each other instead of supporting and complementing each other”, he said.

He cited an example with the non-permanent membership of the the UN security Council when Djibouti and Kenya were vied  for the same seat.

“Our lack of coordination, different things that we should do jointly, and with one voice, we don’t.

“Recently when we were competing for the non-permanent membership of the UN security council, Djibouti was competing with Kenya. Why? “Right now, there is the WTO; Okonjo-Iweala is the candidate we should back, given her credentials.

“Now, a Kenyan candidate has emerged, an Egyptian candidate has emerged — we are going to be manipulated and none of the Africans is going to get it.

“We’ve got to learn to do things properly as a continent. And when we do that, we’ll be stronger and ultimately, our populations would benefit from it.” There are eight candidates for the WTO top job — and three of them are from Africa.

The professor who is the Director of Kenya’s Law School said African leaders agreed in 2000, in Lagos, to spend 15 percent of budgets on health, but failed at implementing that. COVID-19 has exposed them, he said.

“I think COVID has done something that nothing has ever done; perhaps, this is the terrible beauty of COVID-19. It is terrible in the sense that we have been shaken down.

“I think there is now a commitment; I have listened to some of the virtual meetings of the AU, and I begin to see the recognition by African leaders that we can no longer afford the luxury of depending on others.”

He emphasised that the lack of continental trade is greatly affecting Africa, highlighting the fact that Kenya has been importing maize from Mexico, when they should have imported it from Malawi or Tanzania.

As a result of COVID-19, the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which was to begin in July 2020 has been postponed to January 2021.