Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is heading to Africa next week to participate in the Airport Cities World Conference in South Africa and for a goodwill trip to Nairobi, Kenya, with Denver Councilman Albus Brooks.
The Mayor’s Office says “no taxpayer money will be spent” on the trip.
Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks, shown here in 2012 during his trip to Kenya, will be visiting the East African country again this next week with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock. (Photo courtesy of Albus Brooks).
Seventy-five percent of the Nairobi visit will be funded by a grant from Sister Cities International with the rest being paid for from private funders. And the South Africa visit will be primarily funded by Denver International Airport — an enterprise agency within the city that generates its own revenues.
The Airport Cities World Conference will be in the City of Ekurhuleni near Johannesburg. Hancock will attend two days of the conference and will deliver a keynote on global competitiveness. The Mayor and airport officials will also be hosted by the Premier and Mayor of Durban on a tour of that region’s airport, trade hub and airport city under development.
“Strengthening metro Denver’s global connectivity and competitiveness is the key to success in today’s international marketplace,” Hancock said in a press release by the Mayor’s Office. “This trip will enable us to build on relationships begun when we hosted this conference in Denver last year. I’m honored to accept an invitation to offer a keynote speech this year that will further elevate Denver and our regional transportation hub – DIA – onto the world stage and open our doors to more economic opportunity.”
In Kenya, the mayor will visit Denver’s sister city of Nairobi, where he and Brooks will focus on a project to improve water, sanitation and education at a local primary school. Hancock and Brooks also will meet with officials from another of Denver’s sister cities, Kunming, China, who also will be in Kenya.
“As a testament to the strong and visionary leadership of the city, Denver is becoming globally connected,” Brooks said in the release by the Mayor’s Office. “We are in a new era of international trade and cooperation that heightens our need to foster relationships and collaborations around the world. By connecting with leaders from both China and Africa on this trip, it’s my goal to help create a renewed sense of global leadership and economic opportunity for Denver’s future.”
Hancock and Councilman Brooks will lead a visit to the Madaraka Primary School, which has no running water or electricity. The majority of Madaraka’s students come from Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya. The Mayor will meet with Nairobi’s Governor, Town Clerk and City Council, as well as with the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya and representatives from the City of Kunming to explore how to expand and enhance relationships.
Brooks visited Kenya last year, taking students, nonprofit leaders and a businessman. He said he wants to visit the city every year, a region of the world he believes will become a big economic player in decades.
“The long-range plan is to have a connection with with East Africa,” Brooks said. “Hopefully, one day we will be going on a direct flight to Denver to Kenya.”
Brooks also said no money from the city’s general fund is being spent on the trip, though he said the city’s ethics policy does allow for city officials to make international trips.
“We still don’t feel we are at the stage yet that we should use city money for international trips, even though we could,” he said.