Rule of law is Africa’s new gold: African Development Bank Group’s (AfDB’s) Adesina calls for bold legal and governance reforms to unlock prosperity

He challenged Africa’s lawyers, judges, and arbitrators to rise as “guardians of promise and stewards of destiny” by enforcing constitutional safeguards on public finance

NAIROBI, Kenya, August 16, 2025/ — “When Africa stands for the rule of law, the world will stand with Africa,” the President of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has told more than 1,200 lawyers, judges, and government officials attending the Kenya Law Society’s 2025 Annual Conference.

Delivering the closing keynote, title Public Finance, Governance, Justice and Development, Dr. Adesina drew a clear link between judicial independence, sound public finance, and sustainable economic growth. He 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.

Turning challenges into opportunities

Africa faces a $100 billion annual gap in foreign direct investment, he noted, a situation compounded by weak rule of law rankings, debt vulnerabilities, and predatory “vulture fund” cases. 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.

“Evidence suggests that foreign direct investments move more to countries that have political stability, stable democracies, transparency, and low levels of corruption,” Adesina said during the conference held at Kenya’s coastal town of Diani, some 35 kilometres south of Mombasa.

Other key drivers, he added, include an independent and transparent judiciary, strong regulatory frameworks, public accountability, efficient public service, competition policy, and respect for intellectual property rights.

He also underlined the vital connection between justice and development, arguing that access to justice must be universal. This means legal aid, digitised courts, and grievance mechanisms that bring the law closer to citizens.

“Justice is not a byproduct of development — it is the foundation of development,” he declared.

Adesina urged 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.
• Build strong African arbitration systems to settle disputes locally and fairly.

He challenged Africa’s lawyers, judges, and arbitrators to rise as “guardians of promise and stewards of destiny” by enforcing constitutional safeguards on public finance.

He called on the Kenya Law Society members to champion ethics and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, digitise court systems, improve legal infrastructure, and protect national assets from predatory debt practices.

Adesina’s keynote culminated a 3-day conference focused on corporate governance, protecting constitutionalism and the rule of law, responsible public finance management, and digitalization of legal systems. The closing ceremony included the participation of Kenya’s legal luminaries and government, including Kenya’s 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.

Solutions in motion

The African Development Bank supports its regional member countries to address governance, public finance, and justice challenges.

In Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire, Bank support to create and modernise specialised commercial courts has reduced dispute resolution times by nearly half, unlocking more than $1 billion in investment.

In Seychelles, Bank-backed constitutional reforms require all sovereign borrowing to receive parliamentary approval — contributing to a fall in the debt-to-GDP ratio from over 100% to below 55%.

In Kenya, Bank-supported procurement and debt transparency reforms, including parliamentary oversight of public borrowing, are safeguarding public funds.

Known as Africa’s “Optimist-in-Chief,” Adesina urged the continent’s legal community to recognise that they hold the keys to turning governance into growth and making development a daily reality rather than a distant promise.

“Let us make a choice that history will record, and generations will remember,” he said. “As lawyers, justices and guardians of the law, I urge you to uphold the rule of law, to execute justice with fairness and righteousness.”