THE INGA PROPHECY 

Bas Congo, Friday, December 20, 2024

‘…honorables excellences, biongozi betu, Bakongomani bote , Bafrika bote na nchi mzima, vendredi ya leo tunatemwanyé ukweli balisema bahanga na ba ancêtre  betu …Mungu aliyipa Afrika  responsabilité ya kugéré asirimali ya dunia mzima kwa benefisi ya bantu bote …na kwa Afrika, leo ndio tunaimarisha souveraineté yetu’ …

This is how a very jovial Dr. Kasereka Muhindo, the Governor of Bas Congo Province in DR Congo welcomed the Heads of State from Africa, CEOs of multinational companies, the African Union Commission delegates (visible and invisible); UN Resident Representatives across Africa, religious leaders from the region, academicians, researchers, environmentalists and citizens from the two Congos as well as the region.

A day unlike any other, he asserted, since it is on this Friday that Africa and the entire world is witnessing Africa fulfil her divinely-ordained responsibility of being the custodian of the earth’s resources. And it is today that the continent is asserting her sovereignty and dignity among the community of independent nations and free peoples, the Governor asserts in Congolese Kiswahili, a rich and melodious blend of Kiswahili, French, Lingala, and other local dialects. A legend across the Bakongo Kingdom which stretched to present-day Angola and parts of Zambia holds that the African continent is the treasurer of the earth’s resources for humanity, as evidenced in the abundance all over the continent. The rivers carry the living spirit of the earth, ever-flowing without emptying, ever filling without overflowing.

The source of Dr. Muhindo’s excitement is the commissioning of the fourth barrage within the larger Grand Inga Dam project. Long established to have a generation capacity of 50 GW(gigawatts) of hydroelectric power, enough to power the entire continent of Africa, the project has had a chequered life. But today marks its turning point if the published facts and figures are an indicator to go by.

According to the CEO at Afrika Okapi Ltd, there is a pool of 93 billion US dollars to finance the construction of all the 7 dams that comprise the Grand Inga. Afrika Okapi is a holding company formed by 48 African governments that are investing in power generation. Okapi is that mystic animal in the Congo forest believed to be a cross between a horse and a zebra.

‘Part of the problems that delayed this project had been the modus of interesting investors…the uniqueness of Afrika Okapi is that African governments own it 68%, and the foreign companies were invited to bid for the 32% shareholding into the company…a departure from the standard practice of companies coming with their own ‘blueprint’, said Dieudonné  Mowka, the Cameroonian CEO of Afrika Okapi. According to Mr. Mowka,  a Canadian hydropower consortium owns 17% shares, a Chinese parastatal  5%,  5% is owned by a French cable manufacturing company, and 5% by an Australian lumbering giant, Hughes Harness Ltd.

This company is reputed globally for its sustainable harvesting philosophy and practices when it comes to mineral and forest resources. It is said that its founder, Mark Hughes, was an anthropologist who studied the resource management beliefs and practices of the Aborigines and adapted them into his corporate culture and business model. In DRC, the company harvests timber, palm oil, alluvial and subterranean minerals, wild honey, and medicinal herbs. Its mode of natural resource harvesting has found acceptability not only with the Kinshasa government but also among citizens who live in the mineral and forest-rich areas, including the Bambuti (derogatively labeled pygmies), custodians of the ancient forests in this region.

Through an RSA (Resource-Sharing Agreement) with Hughes Harness, the DRC government raised the biggest percentage of the 93 billion dollars in the coffers of Afrika Okapi.

‘These people are a rare breed of capitalists,….besides their DRC operations, we have linked them to the leadership of South Sudan…equally rich in the same resources as HHS is harvesting here’…, said a beaming Jean-Paul Mukumbi, Director General of  OCRN. (Office Congolais des Ressources Naturelles), the government authority in charge of natural resources.

When fully completed and running, the Grand Inga will generate 87 GW(gigawatts) of clean, hydroelectricity, far above the 50 GW estimated previously. The harnessing of an additional 37 GW is possible due to the advancement in the generation technology the Canadian consortium is deploying. And this power is enough to light up the entire African continent, with a surplus to export to Europe.

The interesting bit is that despite the increase in the power generated, the transmission costs have not significantly escalated, thanks to the local production of the aluminum cables for overhead transmission across the substations in the recipient countries.

‘Africa is resource-blessed, not cursed as has been erroneously imprinted into some people’s psyche…the plundering, looting, and conflicts linked to resources anywhere on our continent, is always hatched, financed and sustained by foreign interests…the history of Congo and elsewhere tells us this …we are awake now…our resources must benefit our present generations and generations to come for posterity…’ concluded the Congolese president as the Chief Host at the opening of the fourth dam. The construction of the dam ran concurrently with that of evacuation infrastructure, financed by the same pool. Unlike the Standard Gauge Railways (SGR) arrangement where each country had to build its own section, the Inga power transmission network is under Afrika Okapi, across the 48 member countries, feeding into the existing national grid in each country. What Afrika Okapi does is build substations at strategic locations, as the ‘arrival’ point for Inga power. The respective national power companies tap from here into their national grid for inside transmission and distribution. From the Afrika Okapi website, 70% of the Inga power in each country is ringfenced for industrial consumption, with only 30% allocated to domestic lighting and cooking. Even this is largely at an institutional level, namely schools, universities, hospitals, universities, prisons, government offices, commercial buildings, city markets.

Virtually all domestic power is targeted to be from solar sources. Massive solar power plants, solar panels, and battery manufacturing cottages are an integral component of the Inga ecosystem. With a target of zero carbon emissions in the next 50 years, it becomes imperative to have everything electric: from railway locomotives to beard shavers. And this requires constant reliable power.  Thus the ‘ringfencing’ of 70% Inga power into productive sectors.

Masisi-Nyamitanga: A Green Industrial Village

Nowhere else is the business philosophy of HHS better lived than in this green industrial village. A living wonder. It evolved from a displaced people’s camp.  When HHS arrived in the Kivu Province to begin its operations, the first obstacle it met was the ‘…lifeless life of the citizens’…, as Dr. Benoit  Luganzu, the Australian trained CEO of HHS Africa,  says. According to him, the first visible action in the DRC upon her admission into the East African Community was the pacification of the Kivu Province and the entire eastern expanse of the country.

This was achieved by the  EAC  Peace Enforcement Force,  the new autonomous regional army based in Buruuli, southern Burundi. Codenamed TK( Tulizo Kwetu) its troops are recruited from across the Member States in equal numbers of men and officers,  with its High Command being the Military Attaché Council at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha. It is deployed to pacify trouble spots deemed worth the intervention, within Member States borders, independent of any local command and politics.

With the pacification of the region, people were piecing their lives again from internally displaced camps and refugee camps from the neighboring countries. And this is when HHS arrived.

‘We started at relief stage…working with Red Cross, we bought tents, household essentials, power generators, and water purifiers. Within one month, we had recruited a sizeable workforce from these citizens… and we since have evolved to what you see now…’, chuckled Luganzu.

Situated atop the plateau of undulating hills, the homes in this village are built from pre-refabricated slabs of compressed glued saw-dust, and otherwise, waste material from the lumbering section of the company business. The slabs are wedged and dove-tailed into columns of hewn volcanic stone blocks and beams of steel-reinforced saw-dust shingles. Roofed with cottage-made Roman tiles baked in electric kilns, and ceilings woven from palm fronds, the entire ecosystem breathes a blend of technology deployed to sustain nature while meeting man’s needs.

One other wonder of the village is its transport system, which comprises electric mega buses (180 passengers), that ply the road arteries into the various HHS industrial establishments where the residents work.

The buses run along a smooth road circuit around the village, while internally within the village, residents use bicycles, tricycles, besides normal walking in the immaculate lanes and avenues partitioning homesteads. Besides kindergartens that are day-care centers as parents stream to work, there are clubhouses and a public arena specifically for indigenous Congolese sports, games, cultural dialogue, dances, and other performances.

Primary and secondary schools are spread all over the HHS conurbation, with all pupils and students resident and under the management of the HHS structures.

One interesting feature of this ‘community’ is that secondary school students, as part of their formation, are herdsboys: they graze the cattle from the common kraals, where individually owned animals are under common management by the CSR department of HHS, complete with veterinary doctors and interns.

‘…it is true…the Bakongo prophecy is being fulfilled in the Grand Inga Dam…God placed Africa at the centre of humanity…man originates from here…all resources are here. This  Inga, …not only has it restored dignity to the Congolese but also averted the catastrophe that would have befallen us if the bickering over the Nile waters had exploded into full-blown war….the power generated here and spread across Africa has averted all that…everybody is now happy and catered for….there is enough water for irrigation, for industry, for virtually every aspect of life. Next week, we are in Kenya inaugurating  Mbuni Express, our new electric train that will run across the entire region…fast and comfortable, it will literally replace air travel in the region. This Corona thing taught us bitter lessons…we had to rethink and strengthen ourselves for self-reliance. And we are succeeding as you can see…Mungu ababariki Bakongomani nyote, na b’Afrika sote….asanteni saana’,  Ugandan President Museveni holding the rotating chairmanship of the EAC,  closed the day’s ceremonies, which ended with the tour of the Masisi-Nyamitanga Villa Salaam.

Here at Nyamitanga, the Heads of State and the dignitaries witnessed first-hand the dividends of the pacification operation undertaken by the EAC through TK. The cultural troupes and the school band entertaining the guests in the village arena consisted of the very first people rescued from the fangs of the marauding militias and the warlords that had terrorised the entire eastern DRC for all over three decades. In a heart-rending lullaby, an elderly woman offered to ‘mother’ all the leaders, the soldiers, and the HHS staff, who, she says made her feel human again, …  na huyu mugongo wangu, ni wa batoto bangu mwote…na Nzambe abajaliye byote, na ngombe, na batoto…’ she hysterically broke off as Heads of State and all dignitaries clapped, some wiping tears.

Afrika…Mungu hajatusaau…we are fulfilling the prophecy and our divine obligation.

THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY: OLD VERSUS NEW