By Brian Okoth
Kenyan President William Ruto has urged his fellow leaders in Africa to surrender more powers to the African Union (AU) in efforts to bolster the continent’s economic prosperity, especially on the global stage.
Ruto, who spoke during the 22nd summit of COMESA in Zambia’s capital Lusaka on Thursday, said Africa stands to gain if it bargains as a continent on key socio-economic drivers such as trade and security.
“Member states must consider donating power to the AU on matters trade, regional and global security as well as other areas that Africa can benefit from engaging together rather than individually,” the Kenyan leader said in his speech.
Ruto further proposed that African bodies’ mandates be harmonised to facilitate a solid bidding in the international arena.
“We should merge the position of chairperson of the AU Summit and that of the AU Commission into one so as to give it sufficient leverage to engage on behalf of Africa,” he said.
Ruto’s proposal appears to borrow from the European Union’s model of operation where selected representatives of the union negotiate trade deals on behalf of member states.
Under the EU model, member states approve proposals for negotiation, get briefed regularly on the progress of the negotiations, and upon successful conclusion of the deals, they sign the agreement.
The Kenyan president’s proposal did not trigger an immediate reaction, though some presidents are on the record saying that the AU’s structure and operations need to be reviewed to respond to emerging challenges.
Intra-Africa trade
Ruto said trade among African countries stood at only 17 per cent of total trade volume, urging for more concerted efforts to boost intra-trading on the continent.
“Our intra-Africa trade is only at 17 per cent, while others such as Europe, their intra-continental trade is at 70 per cent; in Asia, it is at 60 per cent, in other parts of the world, it is at 40 per cent,” he said.
“Africa’s 17 per cent internal trade speaks to the huge opportunities that we have to trade amongst ourselves. We should eliminate the borders that act as barriers for trade, movement of people, goods and services.”
The president said the low internal trade volume exposes Africa to global price volatility that affects “our primary product exports”.
“This severely restricts our space to pursue the structural transformation of our economies and to achieve SDGs. We now have a historic opportunity to join forces in building the capacity of every player along the value chain.”
Solidarity quest
Ruto says he has lobbied his fellow presidents to adopt a proposal of harmonising the regional economic blocs into one in order to fortify Africa’s bargaining power.
“In the last four months, I have sent special envoys to 15 countries, including Egypt and South Africa. We need to consolidate the market around EAC, SADC and COMESA. We are remaining with a few signatures. I think only three countries are yet to sign, so that we can consolidate this market that will give us 720 million people with a GDP of $1.3 trillion, and we can create a huge market that will be competitive to other markets globally,” he said.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been touted as a solution to boosting the low intra-African trade volume that officially stands at 14.4 per cent.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) forecasts indicate that AfCFTA could boost intra Africa trade by about 33 per cent and cut the continent’s trade deficit by 51 per cent.
