Last week’s Africa Day was commemorated across the continent, marking the birth of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. The celebrations were met with renewed calls for Africa to make its own way, to work on the low rate of inter-regional trade and to build the infrastructure that will support economic development on the continent. In his Africa Day address to the African Union last week, South African President Jacob Zuma reflected the views of other African leaders when he said, “We want an Africa with modern infrastructure, where one can fly from one country to another within the continent, without having to go via Europe. We want an Africa where people are able to drive or ride by rail from one country to another with greater ease. It is for this reason that we are working, under the auspices of the African Union, to build infrastructure that will boost economic development in our continent.” Although there has been a relative slowdown in growth in Sub-Saharan A...