VVIPs and Star-Studded List of Guests Expected at Africities Summit Kisumu
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- May 14, 2022
It seems like the Africities Summit will be star-studded as A-Class VVIPs set to visit the lakeside city of Kisumu for the summit to be held for the first time in an intermediary town.
There’s a Goodwill Ambassador: Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar-winning Kenyan actress and star of the blockbuster Marvel Movie “Black Panther” and its upcoming sequel “Wakanda Forever”. The world’s number one Marathon Runner Eliud Kipchoge has also been drumming up support for the summit.
For the very first time, the Africities 9 Summit will highlight the first level of the continent’s urban framework, which is made up of around 1,500 intermediary cities in Africa with populations of between 50,000 and 500,000 inhabitants.
This layer of the continent’s urban landscape currently accounts for over 30% of the urban population. It is the basis for the development of local economies that structure relations between populations living in rural and those in urban areas. It is the first level of development and improvement of local potentialities and productions. It thus represents the first stage in the structural transformation of the continent. It also acts as a buffer and shock absorber in the migration flows between rural areas and large cities and metropolitan regions.
There’s also a list of 7 African Countries Presidents and Heads of State lined up, including Macky Sall, Senegalese president and AU president, Mohamadou Issoufu, former president of Niger, former US Secretary of state John Kerry, UN dep Secretary-General Moussa Faki Mahamat, AU commission chairperson Ms Maimuna Mohd Sharif, Executive director UN-Habitat Ms Vera Songwe; Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, Prof Benedict Oramah, chairman of Afreximbank and UN deputy secretary-general Amina J. Mohammed.
Samuel Etoo of Cameroon, and Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast will also be in attendance. Etoo has already been in the country and has been visiting with his family in Malindi.
The list is pretty long, with over 5,000 attendees expected as some will attend the event online, as this summit for the first time will take a hybrid format, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic that made event’s attendance possible around the world with the power of technology.
We shall keep you posted on the list as it becomes continually updated.
