Ruto meets Pan-African House president over AU reforms

President William Ruto on Tuesday met with the Pan-African Parliament president Zephaniah Charumbira at State House, Nairobi.

The Pan-African Parliament president was among other officials who met President Ruto to discuss the role of the institutional reforms of the African Union (AU) in empowering the organization to substantively serve the African region.

Ruto was picked as the new African Union Champion for Institutional Reforms during the Assembly of the African Union heads of State and Government held in Ethiopia in February.

He stated that the reforms are aimed at strengthening the AU’s capacity to better serve its 55-member states effectively.

“Institutional reforms of the African Union (AU) are critical in empowering the organization to substantively serve the 55 Member States. Consequently, the AU Commission needs to be given sufficient authority to make decisions while the Pan-African Parliament should get oversight and legislative powers over the Commission,” Ruto said.

According to Ruto, the reforms would empower the AU with precise decision-making authority while giving the Pan-African Parliament legislative oversight that would mark a transformative shift towards better governance and unity across the African continent.

Some of the raft key reforms Ruto promised to spearhead when he took charge as the new African Union Champion for Institutional Reforms include picking up from where his predecessor Paul Kagame of Rwanda left on matters infrastructure development and fostering peace and security and economic diplomacy in the region.

While speaking at the African Development Bank’s annual meeting on May 29, 2024 in Nairobi, Ruto also suggested reducing the constitution of the Pan-African Parliament from 275 members to 100 members with each country having a male and female representative.

Meanwhile, President Ruto also met with UK Foreign Intelligence agency M16 Chief of Service, Richard Moore and British High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan, at State House Nairobi.

Their discussions centered on counter-terrorism, peace and security measures in the Eastern African region.

The Head of State also bid farewell to the outgoing Ambassador of South Sudan to Kenya Chol Ajongo whose period of service in the country has come to a close.

“Kenya will keep working closely with South Sudan and other allies in the Horn of Africa to combat terrorism and associated criminality for the region’s stability and success,” Ruto said.