23 Apr 2017

In the quest to make the African Union (AU) fit for purpose, several reforms have been made to improve its mode of operation.
Botswana’s permanent representative at the African Union, Ms  Mmamosadinyana Molefhe said in an interview alongside the Botswana heads of missions conference in Gaborone on Friday that the AU heads of state decided to realign and re-energise the union to improve performance and connect better with citizens by delivering on the institution’s agenda.
 “There was recognition that we are conducting business as usual and it was not making any impact on the citizenry of the continent,” she said.
She said initially when the organisation started, it was about getting countries out of colonialism. She, however, said the scope for the AU has since been broadened to even develop and grow the continent, but noted that not much has been achieved since its establishment in the 1960s.
“One of the concerns has been that we are a rich continent in land, minerals, labour force and a vibrant youth that we are  not utilising, so we decided in 2015 that we should reform the way we conduct business,” she said.
She said key to the reforms made was to ensure that Africa has to mobilise its own resources to finance activities of the African Union Commission to scale back dependence on donor money, to ensure that the union finances 100 per cent for its operational costs.
“We want to progressively get to carry all operational costs, 75 per cent of development programmes and 25 per cent of peace and security,” she noted.
Ms Molefhe said on the realisation that AU was a fragmented organisation with a multitude of focus areas, it was decided that there would be one summit on January where heads of state would focus on two to three specific topics for them to be proactive in their deliberations.
For instance, she said in the two days that the summits were held previously, the heads of state were expected to discuss huge documents within two days, and were not focusing enough to make meaningful contributions.
“We want them to deliberate on the proposals at length, to focus and make meaningful recommendations for implementation,” she said.
She said the second summit would be held in July, and that it would be attended by a few heads of state to focus on key priority programmes.
She said the July summit has been realigned to ensure that attendants deliver against priorities set, and that it would be attended, by among others, chairpersons and the CEOs of SADC, ECOWAS and rapporteurs to make sure that there was synergy and effective implementation at the regional level.
Ms Molefhe said ministerial committees have also been clustered in subject matters or ministerial technical committees to deal with related subject matters for them to be more effective, unlike before where all ministers from different portfolios were meeting at the AU.
She said Botswana has been co-opted to be among the committee of 10 Ministers of Finance established under the 2017 Kigali financing decision to assume responsibility for the oversight of the African Union’s budget and finances.
She said it was in the interest of Botswana to be in the committee of finance ministers responsible for setting out financial management and accountability.
Ms Molefhe said Botswana was also co-opted in the Ministerial Committee on the challenges of ratification/accession and implementation of AU treaties.
She said after realisation that there was a slow pace of ratification and implementation of decisions of AU treaties by AU member states, it was a major concern to achieve the objectives related to economic, social, cultural, and political integration of the African continent, hence formation of the committee.
She said the ministerial committee, would among other things, support, sensitise and enhance the commitment of member states to the need for signature, ratification and implementation of the various legal instruments. end