African leaders were yesterday united in calls for fairness in the disbursement of loans and grants to mitigate the effects of climate change on the continent.

The more than 10 Africans Heads of State and government who attended the second day of the Climate Change Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) accused the global financiers of unfair conditions when it comes to repayment of loans, plunging African nations into debts that have threatened any possibility of growth and development.

President William Ruto led the calls, maintaining the high interest rates charged by the lenders to African countries are punitive and ought to be repealed.

Ruto said while other countries are charged fair interest rates, African countries were charged upto five times more than any other nation. He said this has skyrocketed the debt ceiling of many countries who still have the burden of shouldering the effects of climate change.

The Head of State urged the lenders to rethink their financial treatment to African nations and lower the interest’s rates to cushion the nations from further damage.

“We do not want to be treated differently, we want a fair financial architecting when it comes to repayment of loans. Many countries are sinking into debt because of climate change yet the rich nations who are the biggest emitters have refused to pay their pledges which would have been used instead of loans,” he stated.

Ruto added that while Africa receives little financial aid from the “polluters”, huge percentage of the funds are channeled towards dealing with the effects of climate change such as drought and floods.

“Here in Kenya, we were forced to divert development funds to feeding our school going children. This money would have been used in development projects,” he told the delegates.

The Kenyan leader warned that the continent risks “dying” from debt if no action is taken against unfair treatment of finances.

He stated that in order to expand its resources to finance its development projects, African countries may be forced to introduce taxes on carbon credits leaving the continent.

Clear roadmap

The Kenyan president further called for wealthy nations to fulfill their pledges of pumping $100 billion to nations most affected by climate change.

“Everyone should keep their promises even during the difficult times. It is only through this that we will efficiently mitigate, adopt and transition to green energy,” he noted.

Calls for clear roadmap on climate change finances were echoed by various leaders including Rwandese president Paul Kagame and his Ghanaian counterpart Nana Akufo-Addo among others.
Kagame said Africa was ready for a new financial agreement which will be both beneficial to its nations as well as the lenders.

He said such an agreement must focus on lowering interest rates of the finances.

On his part, Akufo-Addo said it was time for wealthy nations to fulfill their pledges of pumping funds which will be used in mitigating and adopting the effects of climate change.

“We have difficulties in accessing climate change finances. And despite wealthy nations giving pledges, they have failed to fulfill any of them,” he stated.

The Ghanaian president said the upcoming COP28 to be held in Dubai later this year will only be declared successful if the Global North tables a clear roadmap on how Africa will access the funds and at a fair ground.

“We need practical ways of accessing these finances,” he said.

Similar concerns were raised by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the president of COP 28 who said the upcoming meeting will not accept pledges without a roadmap of how the same will be released.

Practical solutions

“In the meeting, we will only accept discussions on how we will raise the climate change capital and lower its debt. We only need practical solutions and we will demand for donor nations to fulfill its previous pledge,” he said.

The second day of the summit attracted 15 heads of state and government, among them Burundi president Evariste Ndayishimiye, Salva Kiir of South Sudan, Samia Suluhu of Tanzania, Kagame of Rwanda and Dennis Sassou Nguesso from the Republic of Congo.

Others were Senegalese president Macky Sall, Mozambique’s Filipe Nyusi, Comoros leader Azali Assoumani, president of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Brahim Ghali, Ethiopia’s Salwe Work Zewde, Sierra Leone Julius Maada, Eritrea Isaias Afwerki, Libya’s Mohammed Younis, Also, the summit was attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.