The Herald (Zimbabwe)

ED urges Africa to fight corruption

- Darlington Musarurwa recently in ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday said it is necessary for all African countries to fight corruption within their respective jurisdicti­ons, as the recent launch of a Continenta­l Free Trade Area has created a single African economy with a market of 1,2 billion people.

The Head of State and Government said this soon after arriving back home from the 11th Extraordin­ary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which deliberate­d on proposed reforms to transform the organisati­on into a highly efficient institutio­n capable of delivering stability and economic prosperity on the continent.

He was met at Robert Gabriel Mugabe Internatio­nal Airport by the two Vice Presidents - Dr Constantin­o Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi - Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Minister of State for National Security Owen Ncube, service chiefs and senior Government officials.

Issues of corruption, the President said, had also been discussed at the two-day continenta­l indaba, which ended yesterday.

“It is necessary that we all agree on fighting corruption,” said President Mnangagwa. “Africa is one entity. We must work towards creating Africa as one economy because we passed the African Continenta­l (Free) Trade Area, which means the entire 1,2 billion market in now one.

“We must all fight corruption in our respective jurisdicti­ons.”

The African Continenta­l Free Trade Area was successful­ly launched on March 18 this year.

President Mnangagwa said there was urgent need to change the structures of the AU to reflect the contempora­ry transition from focusing on political issues to concentrat­ing on economic developmen­t.

And this prompted the Assembly - the supreme organ of the bloc - to trim the number of commission­s from 10 to eight, including the chairperso­n and

the deputy chairperso­n of the commission.

“The structures in the past were structured to deal with the political issues of the time, but now it’s a question of the economy as well as market issues, so the following issues have been resolved: We have reduced the size of the commission­s from 10 to eight,” said President Mnangagwa.

“We have also introduced the system of rotation. In the past, there was no systematic rotation of chairperso­ns of the AU, but now it must rotate among the five regions (West, Central, East, North and South). And also in terms of the many commission­ers, we must see that they also rotate among the regions, but of course on the basis of merit.”

SADC believes that there should be “predictabl­e inter and intra-regional rotation (among the regions) following the English alphabetic­al order.

The proposed new structure will have a chairperso­n, deputy and six commission­ers who will superinten­d over the restructur­ed portfolios of Sustainabl­e Environmen­t, Agricultur­e Rural Developmen­t and Blue Economy; Economic Developmen­t, Trade and Industry; Education, Science, Technology and Innovation; Infrastruc­ture and Energy; Political Affairs, Peace and Security and Health, Social Developmen­t and Humanitari­an Affairs.

On Saturday, President Mnangagwa told the Assembly that streamlini­ng portfolios of the AU Commission — the Union’s secretaria­t — through focused units will help “remove overlaps and duplicatio­n in portfolios”.

The current amorphous structure is viewed as complex as it has eight commission directorat­es, 31 department­s and offices, along with 11 AU organs, 31 specialise­d technical agencies and 20 highlevel committees.

President Mnangagwa noted that the weekend meeting failed to agree on the framework of conducting negotiatio­ns between the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) bloc, especially after the expiry of the current cooperatio­n agreement — also known as the Cotonou Agreement — in February 2020.

The present 20-year agreement was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin.

“The only area where we could not really agree and that has been deferred for further consultati­ons was the area of ACP (African Caribbean Pacific) relationsh­ip (with the EU),” said President Mnangagwa.

“One view was that we use the AU secretaria­t to the commission to negotiate on behalf of Africa, but the majority of us member states felt that the conditions are different; each member state must be able to negotiate their conditions with the ACP, which has been the situation in the past.”

President Mnangagwa noted that the Assembly indicated that member states were flexible to fund the AU budget either through the 0,2 percent levy on imports to the African continent, or through the already existing system of assessed contributi­ons.

“With regards to funding the AU itself, we have agreed on two options: Others will fund through the 0,2 percent import tax approach or directly as before,” he said. “There is that flexibilit­y; you can use one of the two.”

In 2015, the AU Assembly decided to finance 100 percent of the operating budget, 75 percent of the programme budget and 25 percent of the peace and support operations budget in order to wean the organisati­on from dependence on donor support. African leaders are also in the process of defining the mandate of the African Union Developmen­t Agency — former National Economic Partnershi­p for African Developmen­t (NEPAD) — which has been integrated into the AU as a developmen­t agency.

A deliberate attempt to improve political governance on the continent is also being made through strengthen­ing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), among a host of other reform processes.

 ?? - Picture by John Manzongo ?? President Emmerson Mnangagwa is welcomed from the AU summit by Vice President Dr Constantin­o Chiwenga at Robert Mugabe Internatio­nal Airport yesterday.
- Picture by John Manzongo President Emmerson Mnangagwa is welcomed from the AU summit by Vice President Dr Constantin­o Chiwenga at Robert Mugabe Internatio­nal Airport yesterday.

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