ATLANTA - The foreign aid mentality prevailing in Africa has held back development, Kenya's permanent secretary for information Dr. Bitange Ndemo said today during a keynote address in Atlanta at the 2nd Kenya Diaspora International conference and Investment forum.

The permanent secretary said Africa’s future lies in innovation to make the continent competitive. "Without innovation we cannot become a competitive nation".  Amid laughter, he said in his own Kenya there have been cases where people pay a fee to learn how to solicit for aid for their projects from overseas donors.

He said the innovation of Africans is currently in display in Kenya where the landing of the fiber optic cable has given rise to entrepreneurs who are readying services to offer to the public. He said the recent introduction of Digital Villages by his government in remote places an offshoot of the fiber’s landing has spurred new businesses such as one he saw where a young gentleman had Kenyan women in one village crowding around one computer monitor to learn about breast cancer and charging them ten shillings (about US 25 cts). 'The innovative capabilities of Kenyans will amaze you when given the tools", he said.

Dr. Ndemo's keynote address which centered on the conference's theme of Building a Knowledge Based Economy in Kenya tackled the myriad of issues that face his country including poverty. On poverty, the PS said that a contributing factor is the unwillingness to embrace science giving the example of the U.S. where only 3% of the population feeds the nation as compared to 60% of Kenyans who are involved in some form of food production.

The PS said 1/3 of the global poor will be from Africa "if we don’t do anything."

The conference got underway yesterday and concludes tomorrow. 

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