President William Ruto has proposed a raft of reforms which he will spearhead as he takes charge as the new African Union Champion for Institutional Reforms.
Ruto said part of the reforms he intends to bring forth is to have the African Union Commission given sufficient power to be able to execute Africa's economic Diplomacy.
He spoke during the opening of the African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Nairobi. Ruto is the host president.
He said this way, the continent can be able to showcase its richness and potential to the outside world and create opportunities for all, as well as a better Africa.
"We can unlock the potential of our continent, showcase the assets that we have – our mineral assets, agricultural, human capital natural resources and use them to create investment opportunities," Ruto said.
He went on to say that the African Union must be made a fit-for-purpose organisation to take charge of the consolidation of the African market through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Ruto insisted that finding a market within Africa is what will contribute to the growth of trade from Africa from the current about 2 per cent, across the globe.
"Today, in Africa, Intra Africa trade is only 15 per cent. Intra-Asia trade is 60 per cent. Intra-European trade is 70 per cent. We are struggling to look for markets everywhere except on our continent. We must first sell to the market we have in our continent," he said.
The President added that the African Union must also be made fit for the purpose of securing the continent.
He said that the AU must take charge of continental peace, security and stability, and must solve the problems of conflict and war in the continent.
"We cannot progress if there is war in Sudan, trouble in Somalia, problems in DRC, problems in the Sahel... The African Union must step forward to be counted to provide that cover," Ruto said.
Ruto noted that the AU must also work with all leaders on the continent to close the infrastructure gap that exists.
To this effect, Ruto said that they will also make proposals to have the role of the AU repurposed to fix the current pressing issues.
Other reforms will include reducing the constitution of the Pan African parliament from 275 members to 100, where each country will have two representatives, male and female.
"Finally, we must bring about the African Court of Justice so that we can sort out our issues. We don’t want any Africa to be dragged to courts elsewhere to sort out our issues," Ruto said.
"The AU was initially a liberation movement. We must repurpose it to address the challenges of the moment."
In February, Ruto was picked as the new African Union Champion for Institutional Reform, during the Assembly of the African Union heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In his new capacity, Ruto will among other things provide political leadership and vision that will contribute towards completing the Comprehensive Institutional Reform Initiative.
The reforms started in 2016.
President Ruto took over from President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who previously held the position.
