President William Ruto has said that African heads of state are most of the time not given a platform to explain their issues in-depth.
Speaking during the Pan-African Parliament Summit on Climate Policy and Equity in South Africa, Ruto said the leaders are only allocated one and a half minutes to contribute which shouldn't be the case.
"While we are invited to those summits, we are given limited time, then aligned, all over 50 of us, for photos, and unfortunately that's the only thing we go back home with," he said.
The head of state said African leaders want to be effective during the summits, urging the invitees to take the leaders seriously in having meaningful discussions.
"We want to be effective, not just taking pictures, having dinner and then we go home. Good people, we have food in our countries," Ruto said.
Ruto said the leaders have agreed that they will in future be represented as one tray by the African Union.
"Any other invitation must respect the rules of our continent, anybody who wants us to take them seriously, must respect our infrastructure," he said.
He also urged the members of the Pan-African Parliament to operate at the same level as the European Parliament.
This, Ruto said, will allow the African Union to operate at the same level as the European Union.
"We cannot afford not to act together," he said.
The President had in April, laid out some of the challenges African presidents go through during foreign trips abroad.
Ruto expressed his displeasure about the treatment of African Heads saying they are sometimes mistreated.
“We have these meetings, Africa-US, Africa-Europe, Africa-Turkey, now we are waiting for Africa-Russia and Africa-Japan. We have decided that it is not intelligent for 54 of us to go and sit before one gentleman from another place... Sometimes we are mistreated, we are loaded into busses like school children and it is not right," he said.
