By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US President Donald Trump has announced the termination of an initiative aimed at providing electricity access to communities in Africa, Bloomberg news agency reports, doubling down on his administration’s aid cuts to the continent since taking office on 20 January.
The Power Africa initiative, launched in 2013 under former President Barack Obama, aimed to provide electricity to tens of millions of households across Africa.
The project was overseen by the now-defunct US Agency for International Development (USAID).
“All programmes are undergoing a review to restructure aid to serve US interests,” Bloomberg quoted a State Department spokesperson as saying.
“Programmes that serve our nation’s interests will continue. But programmes that are not in our national interest will not,” the spokesperson added.
Over the past decade, the initiative has been an innovative partnership to double electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, where over 600 million people lack power.
It also aimed to add 30,000 megawatts of new, cleaner electricity generation capacity and increase electricity access by at least 60 million new connections.
The initiative mobilised over $20 billion in private sector commitments to invest in power generation and distribution.
Since his inauguration, Donald Trump has implemented various cost-cutting measures in governance, focusing on reducing federal regulations, foreign aid, and government workforce expenses.
While prioritising military funding, Trump’s policies aimed to streamline government operations and reduce financial burdens on the US economy.
The termination of the initiative, which provided technical and legal expertise while facilitating private sector and government collaborations, could slow efforts to expand power generation in sub-Saharan Africa.
