The composition of Pan African parliament should be resized from 275 members to only 100 members, President William Ruto of Kenya has proposed.
President Ruto has also proposed a host of extra reforms at the African Union. In February, Ruto was picked as the new African Union Champion for Institutional Reform.
Currently Kenya is hosting the African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Nairobi.
Ruto said part of the reforms include; giving the African Union Commission sufficient power to be able to execute Africa’s economic Diplomacy.
“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.
Ruto told participants 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%, across the globe.
“Today, in Africa, Intra Africa trade is only 15%. Intra-Asia trade is 60%. Intra-European trade is 70%. 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.
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.
“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 his new capacity, Ruto will among other things provide political leadership and vision that will contribute towards completing the Comprehensive Institutional Reform Initiative.
