Mombasa: Africa faces a USD 100 billion annual gap in foreign direct investment, a situation compounded by weak rule of law rankings, debt vulnerabilities, and destructive cases, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has said. These involve investors buying national debt at a discount on secondary markets, then exploiting weak legal systems to sue debtor nations for full repayment plus backdated interest and legal fees, he added.
According to Kenya News Agency, the AfDB President, who was speaking during the closing of the Law Society of Kenya's 2025 Annual conference last week, noted that evidence suggests that foreign direct investments move more to countries that have political stability, stable democracies, transparency, and low levels of corruption. 'When Africa stands for the rule of law, the world will stand with Africa,' Dr. Adesina told more than 1,200 lawyers, judges, and government officials attending the conference in Mombasa.
Dr. Adesina, who was delivering the closing keynote titled Public Finance, Governance, Justice, and Development, stressed that Africa's true wealth lies not only in its natural resources but also in its ability to govern them transparently, enforce contracts fairly, and ensure justice for all citizens. He pointed out key drivers of development that include an independent and transparent judiciary, strong regulatory frameworks, public accountability, efficient public service, competition policy, and respect for intellectual property rights.
The AfDB president also underlined the vital connection between justice and development, arguing that access to justice must be universal, and this means legal aid, digitised courts, and grievance resolution mechanisms that bring the law closer to citizens. He called on the Kenya Law Society members to champion upholding societal ethics and environmental conservation, social equity, and governance (ESG) principles, digitise court systems, improve legal infrastructure, and protect national assets from predatory debt practices.
'Justice is not a byproduct of development, it is the foundation of development,' he declared while urging African nations to strengthen judicial independence and transparency to attract global capital, reform natural resource laws to ensure benefits reach communities, not elites, develop sovereign wealth funds to safeguard prosperity for future generations, and build strong African arbitration systems to settle disputes locally and fairly.
Dr. Adesina also challenged Africa's lawyers, judges, and arbitrators to rise as guardians of promise and stewards of destiny by enforcing constitutional safeguards on public finance. Adesina's keynote culminated in the three-day conference focused on corporate governance, protecting constitutionalism and the rule of law, responsible public finance management, and digitalisation of legal systems.
The closing ceremony was attended by Kenya's legal luminaries and senior government officials, including Chief Justice Martha Koome, Kenya Law Society President Faith Odhiambo, Mombasa County Governor Abdulswamad Nassir, and the AfDB's Director General of East Africa Alex Mubiru. The African Development Bank has been supporting Kenya in procurement and debt transparency reforms, including parliamentary oversight of public borrowing, to safeguard public funds.