[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 113 (Monday, July 20, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR MWANGI S. KIMENYI, SENIOR FELLOW AND FORMER 
 DIRECTOR OF THE AFRICAN GROWTH INITIATIVE AT THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KAREN BASS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 20, 2015

  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the late Professor 
Mwangi S. Kimenyi, senior fellow and former director of the Africa 
Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, who passed away on June 
6, 2015.
  I had the honor of working with Professor Kimenyi over the last 
several years. I drew on his expertise for one of the ``Africa Policy 
Breakfasts'' I hosted earlier this year that drew hundreds of people.
  You just needed to listen to Professor Kimenyi speak for a few 
minutes to understand that he was one of the foremost scholars and 
experts in the relationship between the United States and the nations 
of the African continent. His breadth of knowledge stretched from 
institutions of higher education as well as the non-profit sector. He 
drew on his ability to teach from his years of experience as a former 
professor at the University of Mississippi and the University of 
Connecticut. He was the founding executive director of the Kenya 
Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, a resource person 
with the African Economic Research Consortium, and a research associate 
with the Center for the Study of African Economies, University of 
Oxford.
  He was rightly recognized for his years of work when he received the 
Outstanding Research Award from the Global Development Network in 2001 
and the Georgescu-Roegen Prize in Economics in 1991. In 1994, Professor 
Kimenyi was also named by Policy Review among the top 10 young market 
economists in the United States.
  The House of Representatives voted to give final Congressional 
passage to the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Renewing AGOA was 
only possible because of the work of Professor Kimenyi and the hundreds 
of Africans like him who committed themselves to ensuring that the 
United States and the nations on the African continent became true 
partners that work together to benefit our respective people and 
economies.
  I join with so many in sending my condolences to Professor Kimenyi's 
family, friends, colleagues and everyone who benefited from his years 
of work and his commitment to the relationship between the United 
States and the countries on the African continent. Although he has left 
us, his work will benefit people for generations to come.