Here we go again. Our “Diplomat-in-Chief” is back on the jet, this time in Addis Ababa, chairing the inaugural committee for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The script is familiar: polished suits, expensive mineral water, and big words like “structural economic transformation” and “decisive implementation.” President Ruto is telling the continent that it’s time to move from talk to action to benefit 1.4 billion people. Honestly, if we got a shilling for every time a politician promised “tangible benefits,” we wouldn’t need a trade agreement to be rich.

The numbers being thrown around are enough to make your head spin - $3 trillion in intra-African trade and a $1.4 trillion boost to the GDP. It sounds lovely on a PowerPoint slide in Ethiopia, doesn’t it? But back here in Nairobi, the “bottom-up” reality is a bit more grounded. They talk about “deepening value addition” while the local manufacturer is fighting high electricity bills and a taxman who treats every entrepreneur like a crime suspect. It’s hard to imagine a seamless continental market when you can barely get a truck through the Namanga border without a headache and a bribe.

Ruto says the private sector is “indispensable” and wants to focus on MSMEs - the micro and small businesses that actually keep this country breathing. It’s a bit rich coming from a government that seems to view every small business as a lemon to be squeezed dry. They promise to make cross-border trade easier, but anyone who has tried to ship a parcel to Lagos or Accra knows that the “African dream” usually gets stuck in a warehouse or lost in a sea of red tape and “protectionist” ego trips.

It’s the classic Nairobi irony: we are experts at designing “harmonised governance architectures” for the whole continent while our local systems are a mess. While the elite discuss “institutional coherence” in Addis, the reality on the ground is far less sophisticated. For instance, the state is still obsessed with policing morality and hunting male sex workers for sport under ancient penal codes. We want to be a modern economic bloc, but we’re still using the law to bully the most vulnerable instead of fixing the actual economy.

The President says this committee reflects “shared acknowledgement” and “regular accountability.” We’ve heard that one before. “Accountability” in this part of the world usually means another report that gathers dust until the next summit. By the time 2045 rolls around - the target for that $1.4 trillion GDP boost - most of the people at that table will be retired on fat pensions, while the rest of us will still be waiting for the “trickle-down” that never seems to leave the airport lounge.

So, let them have their “focused execution” and their “strategic direction.” In Nairobi, we’ll keep our eyes on the price of unga and the fuel pump. It’s easy to lead a continent from 30,000 feet in the air; it’s the landing that usually hurts. Wake me up when a Kenyan trader can sell to a buyer in Gaborone without needing a miracle and a cabinet sub-committee to make it happen.