President William Ruto has been picked as the new African Union Champion for Institutional Reform, at the ongoing 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 takes over from President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who previously held the position.
Some of the reforms set out include reforming the structure, functioning and focus of the African Union Commission, AU Organs and Specialised Agencies.
The goal is to have such agencies become more effective and efficient in managing the programmes of the African Union.
Ruto has been calling for reforms in the way the AU Commission has been operating since its inception.
Among the issues he has been pushing for is to establish a robust financing mechanism and to have more powers delegated to the Union when it comes to negotiating on behalf of African countries.
He insists that the Continent needs to speak in one voice and that the AU is best placed to do it.
In June 2023, Ruto warned that without reforms, goals including the African Solutions, Agenda 2063, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Young, Clean Green Continent of the Future will not be realised.
"I have had an engagement with legislators of the Pan African Parliament and implored on them the need to reform the African Union to conform with the current realities," he told the 22nd Summit of the COMESA Heads of State and governments in Zambia.
"The AU Reform Agenda must therefore be a priority and we must interrogate and conduct the process to ensure that structurally, the roles of the bureau, summits, committees, regional caucuses, secretariat and commission are duly rationalised to give Africa a fit-for-purpose continental governance body with the capacity to engage globally," Ruto said.
