Editor's Review

"At the moment, over 60% of our programmes budget is financed by overseas partners," President Ruto. 

President William Ruto now says it is possible to build a more integrated, prosperous, and stable Africa.

Addressing the Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities, the Regional Mechanisms and the African Union Member States at the UN Complex in Gigiri, Nairobi County, Ruto maintained that Africa must be Africa-driven by its own people, leaders, and resources.

"It is time to free up the African Union from structural and organizational constraints including duplication and other inefficiencies, thereby facilitating it to be effective on a greater scale. As a starting point, defining the roles and functions of different organs and instruments more clearly, is now unavoidable.

"The coordination, administrative and implementation mandate of the Commission, the legislative and oversight function of a strong Pan African Parliament, and the political leadership, ownership, and broad policy direction of the Council, all need to be reflected more clearly through rational structural delineation," he stated. 

It was not right, he insisted, for over 60 percent of AU programmes to be financed by overseas partners.

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"We must therefore capitalize on the institutional reform momentum at the AU to pursue the complete development of effective capacity to deliver Pan-African transformation. To do this, self-reliance is essential, and a fit-for purpose institutional architecture is indispensable. At the moment, over 60% of our programmes budget is financed by overseas partners.

"The demands of our challenging time require an AU that can pursue multiple urgent and critical interventions using internally mobilized resources. The Pan-African movement has always been about sovereignty and agency, first and foremost. Chronic dependence on well-meaning partners is starkly inconsistent with this aspiration," President Ruto affirmed. 

Heads of State during the Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union at the UN Complex in Gigiri, Nairobi County.

Present were Presidents Azali Assoumani (Comoros), Ali Bongo (Gabon), Abdel Fattah (Egypt), Macky Sall (Senegal), Ismail Guelleh (Djibouti) and Bola Tinubu (Nigeria), African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki, among others.

The Head of State told the session that African integration is unstoppable as it will open doors for unprecedented transformation.

The President explained that the success of COP27 in Egypt was a signal that Africa is taking off.

“It showed that Africa can speak in one voice and contribute to global development and climate