The African Union (AU) wants reforms that would enable it to pursue several urgent and crucial initiatives using internally mobilized resources, according to the leaders gathered in Nairobi for the 5th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union.
They stated that over reliance on foreign aid to finance 60 percent of African Union programs is delaying the development of the union’s capacity to deliver Pan-African transformation.
“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… It is time to free up African Union from structural and organizational constraints including duplication and other inefficiencies to make it effective on a greater scale,” President Ruto said.
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Ruto stated that the inevitable nature of African integration will allow for unimaginable change. The implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area has advanced, which is the strongest indication that African integration is irreversible and that it would lead to previously unimaginable socioeconomic revolution.
54 nations have agreed to establish a single market with a population of 4 billion people and a GDP of USD 3.4 trillion (Ksh482.52 trillion) under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
By 2035, it is anticipated that the free trade area will help 30 million people escape the worst forms of poverty and increase incomes by 7%, or USD 450 billion (Ksh63.86 trillion).
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“As I have had occasion to remark before elsewhere, this is the magnitude of what typical Pan-African collective action can achieve, and we are only getting started.” The President said.
