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Ruto said the African Union Executive lacks an accountability mechanism.
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He added that the AU parliament has been made impotent.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto has revealed plans to reform the African Union.
While speaking in Ghana on Wednesday, Ruto said:
"It is our intention as heads of State to make sure that we reform the African Union to make it fit for purpose. As we talk today, we have a fairly dysfunctional set-up," Ruto said.
He said the African Union Executive lacks an accountability mechanism.
Ruto added that the AU parliament has been made impotent.
"When I went to address the Pan-African parliament in South Africa, there was no bureaucracy. Nothing works unless you have serious accountability," he said.
Ruto said it is important for Presidents to re-impose the place of the Pan-African parliament.
"If we want to have an African Union that works for the people of our continent, it must be accountable, and there must be a mechanism to adjudicate on matters that affect our organisation," he said.
Ruto said there is a need to have a court that will adjudicate on matters that affect the African Union.
He said without a court to adjudicate and a parliament for accountability, it is not possible to have an optimal African Union that works for the continent.
During his Ghana visit, Ruto was praised for becoming one of the greatest African voices of his time
"Apart from your commendable domestic performance, you have in the course of your first term become one of the strongest voices of the African continent on two of the greatest issues of our time, climate change and the reform of the international monetary system," Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said.
Akufo-Addo praised President Ruto as an “example of a new generation of African leaders” dedicated to upholding principles of accountability and due process to all citizens no matter their status in society
He pointed out that Ruto had done this regardless of the complexities or potential political consequences.
“Under your leadership, Kenya has become a shining example of a nation governed by the rule of law,” Akufo-Addo said
The Ghana President also pointed out that under President Ruto's leadership, Kenya has regained its place of pride on the international stage.