•KWESIGA
THE late African Development Bank (AfDB) resident representative Freddie Kwesiga was in many lives as a rare breed and gallant son of Africa.
Dr Kwesiga died on February 1, this year, in Kenya. At the age of 65, the time of his demise, the ‘rare’ tag befitted him as he would be described as one during his service that won trust and confidence of those he served and worked with.
He was a dauntless, diligent citizen of Africa who leaves behind an imprint of fighting economic turbulences on the continent.
It is hard to eulogize any man — to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person — their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that light up someone’s soul.
How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward economic development, and in the process contributed to the fight against poverty not only in Zambia but in Africa as a whole.
Freddie Kwesiga born a Ugandan citizen, he always had his heart deeply rooted in Zambia throughout his life.
Dr Kwesiga spent almost half of his professional life – 26 years – in Zambia first as an accomplished agro-forestry scientist when he authored more than 100 articles and scientific papers in published
journals, conference proceedings and books.
He worked for the World Agro-forestry Centre from July 1985 to May 2005 and later he worked for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa from July 2005 to June 2007.
It was during the same period that Dr Kwesiga joined the African Development Bank and worked as manager in the Agriculture Division and also Coordinator of the African Water Facility before he was posted to the Zambia Field Office in 2009 as resident representative.
His significant mark will be most missed in this role as Resident Representative effectively representing the AfDB from 2009 to 2015.
Based on his work, Zambia has become one of the most prominent business and investment partners of AfDB in Africa with a growing portfolio.
The Bank praised him for his unprecedented mobilisation and leveraging of investment resources with Zambia’s portfolio reaching US$750 million.
During this period, he tirelessly established a web of connections with people of various divides and ranks in governments, international organisations, the media, private sector and ordinary citizens.
Dr Kwesiga played a key role in advising the Government on various developmental issues including the external debt expenditure.
He felt that things in Zambia had radically changed where Government was following a much more expansionary fiscal policy that was focused on continuing heavy expenditure on road investment, but also significantly increasing the wage bill which was consumption oriented.
Dr Kwesiga had highlighted that the Government had continued to borrow both from internal and external sources.
Among the landmark projects and studies initiated during his office in Zambia include the Kazungula Bridge project, Itezhi-tezhi Power project, Maamba Power Project, Nacala Corridor Project (Great East
Road), Nkana Water Supply and Sanitation, Kariba Dam Rehabilitation and Mpulungu Port expansion.
During his tenure the AfDB president Donald Kaberuka and board members visited Zambia and subsequently approved US$75 million for the rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam project.
Apart from that Dr Kwesiga was very keen in assisting the growth of the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) with affordable long time finance.
Just before his death he helped secure a loan worth US$1.5 million to Cetzam Financial Services for on-lending to the SME sector.
He believed in building the small micro enterprises in order for them to create job opportunities and wealth for the Zambian people.
On December 21, 2014, Dr Kwesiga announced the Bank’s commitment to supporting the implementation of the Lake Tanganyika management programme.
The Board of Executive directors had approved a US$25.5 million and a grant of US$7 million under the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).
The project is co-financed by the African Development Bank, GEF and the Government of Zambia through the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.
The lake is shared by four countries in the region, namely Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
His views were simple; “Lake Tanganyika is a very strategic project because of its entry into the East African markets and also the positioning of Mpulungu port.
This is an important project because the people around the lake are the most disadvantaged in terms of climate change and also in terms of their livelihoods. The fishing industry is one of the most important
industries and also the safety of the lake is important,” Dr Kwesiga said.
Dr Kwesiga was a natural resources expert with a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and a First Class Honors B.Sc. degree from Makerere University in Uganda.
Commenting on his death, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda described Dr Kwesiga six years of service in Zambia has been instrumental in leading the Bank’s contribution to supporting the
Government’s development which extensively covered support to agriculture, infrastructure, energy and other poverty reducing initiatives.
Mr Chikwanda said Dr Kwesiga made it his personal ambition to contribute to the transformation of lives especially for the poor and marginalised through the African Development Bank by supporting and
facilitating processes that empower them with resources, knowledge, skills, voice and confidence.
He made sure that he secured financing worth US$33.6 million for skills development for job creation in the extractive sector.
“Dr Kwesiga has also been instrumental in mitigating the negative effects of poverty, food and fuel insecurity caused by environmental degradation through projects such as the climate resilience project in the river basins of Western province and Itezhi-Tezhi in central province,” Mr Chikwanda noted.
It is during Dr Kwesiga’s tour of duty that Zambia was reclassified as a blend country being able to borrow both African Development Fund (concessional) and African Bank non concessional resources.
This has increased the Bank’s resource availability to Zambia.
“We have as a Ministry enjoyed a very warm working relationship with Dr Kwesiga. We found him to be a very dedicated, practical and frank person. The Government of Zambia will miss his services and commitment to the African Development Bank and through the Bank, his contributions to the welfare of the People of Zambia, the minister said.
Mr Chikwanda said the people and Government of Zambia have lost a gallant diligent citizen of Africa. He was indeed a rare breed.
