Ruto: AU is dysfunctional, cannot raise even $85 million for Somalia's Al-Shabaab war

NAIROBI - Kenya's President William Ruto has poked holes into the management of the African Union [AU], an organization domiciled in Addis Ababa, arguing that it cannot be able to handle some issues over 50 years since most countries freed themselves from the colonial masters who were in charge.

During the Mo Ibrahim Governance Conversation in Nairobi on Sunday which was attended by a number of dignitaries, Ruto, who assumed the presidency in September 2022, lamented that AU could not manage even to raise $85 million for the rebuilding Somalia and had to wait for support from stakeholders such as European Union [EU].

In a scathing attack, Ruto challenged the autonomy of the union, noting that it was mainly controlled by Heads of State, giving the commission very little space to run its affairs. The AU is run by the commission currently headed by Moussa Faki but the member states have considerable powers to remotely control operations.

“We need a serious interrogation of the management of the African Union. Today we cannot even support Somalia. We are waiting for the EU to give us $85 million. 54 countries, 50 years after independence cannot raise this amount to support Somalia? The AU Chairman cannot do much because we, as Heads of State, have retained all the powers," he argued.

"We have the wrong architecture in the management of the African Union [AU]. The AU Commission Chairman can do very little because we have retained all the powers as Heads of State and yet you cannot run one country and run the continent of Africa," Dr. Ruto added during the Questions and Answers session.

Somalia has struggled to restore peace and stability with most finances for peacekeepers coming from United Nations, the US, and European Union. With over 22,000 strong African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS], payment of salaries and other logistical support has been a major nightmare in the country.

Ruto also seemingly criticized the attitude of European nations towards Africa, arguing that they were being treated as lesser stakeholders. He particularly took an issue with the decision by the government of the United Kingdom to bundle all presidents from Africa into one bus during the burial of Queen Elizabeth II.

"Sometimes, we are mistreated. We are loaded onto buses like school kids. It is not right," said Ruto, whose policies are viewed as pro-west than East which was fancied by his predecessors Uhuru Kenyatta and Mwai Kibaki, who leaned towards the communist East, China to be specific.

The Kenyan leader has been supporting the stabilization of Somalia and recently, he joined stakeholders from Troops Contributing Countries in Kampala for a summit that discussed the structured exit of ATMIS troops from Somalia. The government of Somalia has been fighting Al-Shabaab for the last 16 years.

GAROWE ONLINE