President William Ruto has called upon the African Union to implement urgent reforms to match the current world standard.
Ruto said this will empower the Union and enable its performance to align with its goals.
He spoke on Tuesday during the 22nd Summit of the COMESA Heads of State and governments in Zambia.
"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 said.
The President 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.
"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.
He called upon the member states to empower the Union on various matters including trade, regional and global security and other areas of mutual benefit.
Ruto recommended that the position of chair of the AU Summit and that of the AU Commission be merged to give it sufficient leverage to engage on behalf of Africa.
Acknowledged that the AU had made strides towards various issues, Ruto expressed confidence that more milestones would be achieved.
"I am confident that through economic integration anchored on green investment, value addition and tourism, we are going to usher in an era of unprecedented transformation and prosperity for our people," he said.
