AU Chairman among dignitaries to attend Africities summit in Kisumu
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By Dickson Odhiambo
AU Chairman among dignitaries to attend Africities summit in Kisumu
The African Union Chairperson is among the
dignitaries who will attend the forthcoming Africities Conference that will be
held in Kisumu in May this year.
Macky
Sall, the President of Senegal who is also the current Chairman of the African
Union (AU) has assured President Uhuru Kenyatta that he will be attending the 9th
Africities Summit to be held in Kisumu from
May 17 to 21, this year.
President
Sal says he will attend the summit in his capacity as the current Chairman of
the African Union and the President of the West African Country.
He
was speaking at State House in Dakar when he hosted Kisumu Governor, Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, Secretary-General of
the United Cities and Local Governments
of Africa (UCLGA),
Jean Pierre Elong Mbasi, and a group of women leaders from across Africa.
The
leaders were in Dakar to attend the 9th World Water Forum as leaders of sub-national
(devolved) governments with the major responsibility of providing adequate and
clean water to our communities.
“The
President accepted our invitation to attend the Africities Summit in Kisumu,
May 17-21, as the current Chairman of the African Union. He requested me to
pass his greetings to Our President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta,” said
Prof Nyong’o in a statement to .
Prof Nyong’o said many sitting and former African Presidents were expected at the
summit being hosted by an intermediary city for the first time in the
Africities history.
President
Sal’s assurance of attending the summit is important given his position as the
current Chairman of AU.
The
Governor has been on a charm offensive across the continent as he woos heads
of States to attend the historic summit
being hosted by Kenya for the second time.
Earlier in the week, Prof
Nyong’o addressed the General Assembly of the Moroccan Association of
Local Government Presidents in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Nyong’o said the Africities conference will prove to the world
that intermediate cities have what it takes to get Africa on top of the globe.
“Kisumu is ready, Kenya is ready, let us congregate in Kisumu city
to celebrate the emergence of Africa’s intermediary cities and begin the
journey to the acceleration of the implementation of the Sustainable and
Development Goals and the African Union agenda of realization of Africa we
want,” declared the Kisumu county boss.
The Governor also signed a bilateral treaty with the Regional
Council of Rabat-Sale-Nitrate following in the footsteps of the County
Government of Mombasa that entered into a similar deal with the Regional
Council of Tangier.
He said bilateral agreements were not only strengthening
developments of decentralization but also helping the local governments create
a more united, stronger Africa, urging the Morocco leaders to make a stronger
UCLGA.
The
African Cities{Africities} is a pan-African conference held every three years
since 1998 when the first meeting was held in Abidjan, Cote d’ voire.
It is
being convened by the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa’s {UCLG-A}.
With
its headquarters at Rabat in Morocco, the Africities brings together the
leadership of Cities {Mayors}, Sub-National and Local Governments with the aim
of improving living standards of their citizens.
The
hosting of the Africities Summit rotates between five African Sub-Regional
Blocks.
This
Ninth Edition of the Africities Summit will be held in Kisumu as an
intermediary city from May 17 to 21 this year.
The
Eight Edition of the summit was held in Marrakech in Morocco in 2018.
In
2006, Kenya hosted the Africities Summit for the first time in Nairobi and this
year in May, it will host it for the second time in Kisumu which is not its
Capital City but an intermediary City after Kenya won the bid to host it in the
year 2021 November.
The effects
of Corona virus pandemic made it pushed to May this year.
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