The Chairman of RPF Inkotanyi, President Paul Kagame has said that during his reign at the helm of the African Union leadership, him and his team did their part for their successors to build on to take the continent further.
He was responding to a query on whether he is satisfied with achievements registered by the Union under his leadership as the AU Chairman and particularly, on the reform process of the pan African body that he heads.
Before he was named the Chairperson of the Union last year, President Kagame had been tasked by his fellow heads of state with leading the reform process of the continental body.
“I accepted this knowing the challenges ahead. We have done what is doable. Progress was made in an environment where leaders and citizens have been supportive,” he said during an extraordinary summit held this last weekend in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
The summit was convened to exclusively discuss the AU reform process.
“The significance of the decisions at this Extraordinary Summit cannot be overstated. Our common purpose as an institution is fully and beautifully set forth in the Preamble of the Constitutive Act of the African Union,” he said during his address to the summit.
The reforms that the Chairman has worked with a ten-member team to put together, looks to make the pan-African body more efficient and self-reliant to deliver better for Africans.
“Every element of this mission presupposes a very highly capable African Union Commission. Today, we have launched the Commission onto a higher performance trajectory with beneficial effects that will be felt for decades,” he said.
“The reform is not an end in itself. What counts is how we use it to secure a prosperous and peaceful future for our continent. I therefore urge the Commission and the Member States to put these decisions into effect as quickly,” he told fellow heads of state.
“It is a great pleasure for us as Rwandans to be part of it and play our role, however little, trying to achieve results for everyone’s benefits. There is so much we can do as a continent and there is even more we can do with partnerships,” added the Chairman.
