SANF 25 no 5 by Clarkson Mambo
“When it comes to Africa’s development, my vision for the African Development Bank is not to do anything that people have never heard about, but to do it differently, to do it in a coordinated manner, at scale and at a pace where we begin to make a difference.”
These are the words of Dr Samuel Maimbo, a Zambian national who is a candidate for the presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
His candidacy is backed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
He currently serves as Vice President for Budget, Performance Review and Strategic Planning at the World Bank where he has overseen transformation of the institution’s business, planning and budgeting process.
With over 30 years of experience in development finance, Dr Maimbo views the AfDB as central to the growth and development of the African continent and key to unlocking its challenges.
“The formula for Africa’s development is hidden in plain sight,” Dr Maimbo told Southern African News Features.
“What we need is an African Development Bank that understands its mission, which is simply to become the facilitator-in-chief, syndicator-in-chief, getting deals done, making it easier for the public and private sector to do business together and focusing on the last-mile problem we have in Africa.”
Dr Maimbo’s initial focus would be making the bank’s systems more efficient, allowing the institution to better serve its purpose.
His top priorities are improving Africa’s trade and regional integration, improving the bank’s financial resource base, agricultural transformation, infrastructure development and accelerating energy access.
He intends to ensure the bank plays an important role in climate action through scaling up investments in resilience and embracing new technologies, supporting the growth of creative industries, targeted mainly at empowering the youth as well as prioritising inclusivity, focusing on gender equity, among others.
With discussions around trade and aid currently dominating global affairs, Dr Maimbo said there is no saviour for Africa besides its own people and institutions.
“Current discussions around trade and aid make you realise that the calvary is not coming (to save Africa), but that is fine as far as I am concerned because the calvary was always here. It is us; we have everything in Africa that we need – the arable land, the minerals, the brain power. There is not a single sophisticated institution where you can go to today where you will not find an African,” he said.
While the AfDB strives for self-sufficiency, one of the criticisms that the institution has faced overtime is its overreliance on external support, which can be subject to fluctuations and conditions.
“External financing has been helpful for our continent, in particular United States resources have helped us ride through the HIV/AIDS crisis and COVID-19, and that’s where I would stop and pivot immediately to stress that no country developed on aid alone and it is time that we move away from this perennial cycle of aid and debt,” he said.
With Africa’s developmental challenges requiring huge financial resources, Dr Maimbo said he was the “right man for the job having mobilised over US$93 billion for the World Bank in the last five years.”
He said the AfDB must utilise pension funds on the continent that have over US$250 billion in resources, as well as funding from multinational companies within Africa that generate high revenues.
He argued that tapping into available resources would help improve intra-Africa trade, which stands at less than 15 percent, build modern and climate-resilient infrastructure and create jobs for the over seven million graduates produced at institutions of higher learning around the continent annually.
He argued that the more than US$50 billion that the continent spends annually on food imports could be better utilised investing in systems to improve agriculture and food production instead of being shipped outside the continent.
Turning to the issue of equality, Dr Maimbo said his focus would be to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in the bank’s programmes and activities as well as representation in management.
“It is without a doubt that our women continue to bear the brunt of every single development challenge that one can think of – lack of energy, absence of clean fuels, limitations on health, pressures on education – there is a lot of work we need to do to bring that balance,” he said.
Dr Maimbo is competing against four other candidates in elections for the AfDB presidency set for 29 May.
The others are Hott Amadou from Senegal, Tah Sidi Ould from Mauritania, Tolli Abbas Mahamat who hails from Chad and Tshabalala Bajabulile Swazi from South Africa.
Hott is a former Minister of the Economy, Planning and Cooperation in Senegal and previously worked as a Special Envoy to the President of AfDB responsible for the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa before stepping down to focus on his campaign.
Tah has held senior positions at different finance institutions, including the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and was once the Minister of Economic Affairs and Development in Mauritania.
Tolli is a former governor of the Bank of Central African States and is the candidate for the Economic Community of Central African States.
Swazi is a former Senior Vice President of AfDB and stepped down from the role in 2024 after getting the endorsement of the government of South Africa to campaign for the presidency of the bank.
The five candidates are aiming to replace current AfDB president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina from Nigeria who completes his second and final term on 1 September 2025.
The vote will take place when the AfDB Board of Governors – the highest decision-making organ of the bank – meets for its annual meeting from 26 to 30 May in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The support that Dr Maimbo has received to lead this critical African institution from SADC and COMESA means he has the backing of over half the membership of countries that make up the AU.
SADC member states endorsed him at the 44th Ordinary Summit held in August 2024 and COMESA followed suit at the 23rd Summit of Heads of State and Government in October 2024.
Dr Maimbo has taken his election campaign outside the two regions to garner support from other regional economic communities and shareholders who are non-African.
The AfDB shareholding is made up of 54 African countries and 27 non-African countries, with the United States, Japan and Germany among the top shareholders.
Founded on 10 September 1964 by the Organisation of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union, the AfDB is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries, with a focus on poverty reduction and sustainable growth.
The AfDB Board of Governors is composed of one governor and one alternate governor appointed by each member country. Each governor represents his or her country and exercises voting power proportionate to the capital subscription of his or her country.
The governors and alternate governors are generally ministers of finance or economic planning, central bank governors or other high-ranking officials.
The president of AfDB is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction for the bank, ensuring its activities align with its mission of promoting sustainable economic development and social progress in Africa.
Other roles include leading the implementation of strategy to attain the bank’s goals, resource mobilization, building strategic partnerships as well as representing and advocating for the AfDB on the global stage. sardc.net
