President William Ruto has committed to instituting far-reaching reforms within the African Union.
Earlier this year, he was appointed the AU’s Champion for Institutional Reform by the Assembly of African Union Heads of State.
Ruto on Wednesday outlined how he will push for reforms after taking over from Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
He revealed the plans at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre during the opening ceremony of the African Development Bank Group meeting.
“As I take over the assignment from President Kagame, let me make four points. We will be proposing that the Africa Union Commission, the executive be given sufficient powers to be able to prosecute Africa’s economic diplomacy,” Ruto said.
He said the move would unlock the potential of the continent.
“We will showcase the assets that we have. We take our mineral assets, our agricultural development assets, our human capital assets and our natural resources assets and use them to create investment opportunities so that we turn our potential into opportunities and opportunity into investment,” Ruto said.
Ruto said he will make the AU fit for purpose to take charge of the consolidation of the African market through the Africa continental free trade area.
“Today in Africa, intra-Africa trade is only 15 per cent. Intra-Asian trade is 60 per cent. Intra-European trade is 70 per cent,” he said.
Ruto said African countries have been looking for trade on other continents except Africa, adding that Africa must believe in itself.
He said the move will increase the contribution of trade from Africa by two per cent.
Ruto said AU must take charge of peace, security and stability.
He said the union must help solve conflicts on the continent.
“We cannot progress as a continent if there is war in Sudan, there is trouble in Somalia, and there is a problem in the DRC and Sahel. We must take charge of our security and our stability,” the President said.
Ruto said the Africa Union must work with countries to close the infrastructure gap.
He said there are proposals to have a much more accountable union.
“Today, the Pan-African government has no management with the Africa Union executive,” Ruto said.
He decried that the AU’s budget was being approved by people who were not representatives of the continent.
Ruto said the African Court of Justice needs to be strengthened to sort out African issues locally.
