🎬Wealth after death

THE BIG IDEA
Kamala Harris wants to give Africa a facelift if she wins

With only four days until the US presidential elections, current VP Kamala Harris has assembled a 25-strong team to devise a comprehensive US-Africa policy should she become the custodian of the nuclear passkeys later this month.

What we know: Vice President Harris is the most senior U.S. official to visit Africa during the Biden administration, visiting Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia last year. As VP, she also hosted several African leaders and has overseen several US-Africa initiatives, including private sector investments in climate adaptation, empowering African women, and digital inclusion.

Diplomatic experts hope that her move to assemble an Africa-specific team will achieve the following:

• Codify the US-Africa Leaders Summit to be a regular fixture on the White House calendar regardless of who’s in office. The last one was in 2014.

• Provide competition for China as a meaningful economic and developmental partner to most countries on the continent.

According to a Semafor survey, visiting Africa within her first year would be a major step in the right direction. The last US President to officially visit was Barack Obama in 2015.

What could they build on? After focusing only on security and aid talks during the Trump years, the Biden administration took a different path, focusing much of its Africa efforts on the multibillion-dollar Lobito Corridor infrastructure project, which connects the Lobito port in Angola to the green mineral mines of Zambia by rail.

Do not sleep on Trump, however. The Trump administration also created the US International Development Finance Corp (DFC) with a maximum contingent liability of $60 billion, double its predecessor. Africa remains DFC’s largest regional portfolio, accounting for more than a quarter of the $12 billion it invested in 180 projects worldwide in the past year. -EA.

TRENDING
Which celebrities are raking it in, even in death?

Ouch! Some celebrities are rolling in it in their graves, making more after death than most of us earn while alive. Yes, it’s that time of year: Forbes released its annual list of the highest-paid dead celebrities, a ranking it’s maintained since 2001.

Topping the list… is King of Pop Michael Jackson, who has earned an estimated $3.3B since he died in 2009. This year’s $600m earnings were buoyed by MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical.

Moving down the list:

• Dr. Seuss, $75m: His earnings come thanks to licensing for myriad TV shows, movies, theme park attractions, and merchandise based on his characters.

• Elvis Presley, $50m: His music and Memphis home still earn considerable revenue, with 600k visitors flocking to Graceland over the past year.

New to the list is actor Matthew Perry, who died last October, and whose estate earned $17m+ in “Friends” royalties.

SHOWER THOUGHTS

NEWS
Round the continent

• Egypt has denied it assisted Israeli military operations after media reports that an Egyptian port received a shipment of explosives bound for an Israeli defense contractor.

• Brazilian planemaker Embraer has signed a preliminary deal with Morocco to invest in the nation's civilian and defense aerospace sector. Earlier this year, Boeing set up shop in Ethiopia.

• Kenya’s mint new VP, Kithure Kindiki was installed yesterday, despite an ongoing court case challenging the impeachment of the previous vice president.

• Google is adding 15 African languages spoken by more than 300 million people to its Voice Search, Gboard talk-to-type, and Translate dictation services.

• A survey by Ford found that more than 40% of South Africans are considering buying an electric vehicle within the next five years.