Ruto pushes for one African market as Kenya hands over COMESA chairmanship to Zimbabwe

OUTGOING Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) chairperson and Kenyan President William Ruto has said regional integration is no longer a dream but an economic and strategic necessity as the global order shifts.

Handing over the COMESA chairmanship to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Thursday, Ruto argued that African integration was the answer to rising geopolitical tensions, disrupted supply chains and growing competition for critical resources.

“If prosperity is not shared, then it is not prosperity at all,” Ruto said.

“The global order is shifting, geopolitical tensions are rising, protectionism is returning, supply chains are breaking, competition for critical and strategic resources is intensifying. COMESA’s commitment to African integration is our answer to all of these emerging challenges.”

He said African countries must increase trade among themselves, build resilient regional value chains and strengthen productive capacity to withstand external shocks.

“Regional integration is no longer a dream for us to discuss. It is an economic and strategic necessity,” he said.

“We must trade more with ourselves, build resilient regional value chains and deepen our productive capacity so that we can withstand the next shock and seize the next opportunity.”

Ruto called on African economies to abandon the long-standing model of exporting raw materials and importing finished products, saying the approach had run its course.

“For too long, our engagement with the world has followed one script. We export raw materials, we import finished goods, and we buy that script. I dare say it has run its course,” he said.

“What the world needs now is a different composition. One market, speaking with one voice, rather than 21 markets negotiating alone.”

He called for a new model of engagement with global partners based on sovereign equality and mutual benefit rather than dependency.

“We seek a new engagement with our partners, rooted in sovereign equality, not dependency. Built on mutual benefit, not exploitative engagements. And measured by investments, not charity,” Ruto said.

“We do not want to be treated special, we want to be treated equal.”

The Kenyan leader said COMESA was ready to work with partners seeking access to Africa’s minerals, markets and young workforce, provided the relationships delivered tangible benefits.

“To every partner who seeks our minerals, our markets, and our young workforce, our offer is clear. Invest with us, process with us, build with us. We will be fair in our partnerships, firm in our interests, open in our markets, and reliable in our word,” he said.

“Africa does not come asking for a seat at the edge of the table. We come to set up the table with others.”

Ruto expressed confidence in Mnangagwa’s leadership as he handed over the chairmanship, saying he expected the region to turn its integration ambitions into tangible progress.

“As I hand over the Chair, I do so with full confidence in my dear brother, President Emmerson Mnangagwa,” he said.

“Under his stewardship and the support of every Member State, I trust that we will turn the ambition of One Market, One Future, into progress our people can see and feel.”

He said this would require countries to produce, trade and invest more within the region while engaging the rest of the world with a stronger, more unified voice.

Ruto said these efforts would advance COMESA’s ambitions and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which envisions an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.

He also revealed that his push for greater intra-African investment had already yielded a potential major investment for Zimbabwe.

“Just this morning, I had an engagement with my elder brother, President Mnangagwa, and I introduced him to a fellow African who wants to invest in Zimbabwe. He is an investor in Kenya, he is an investor in Uganda,” Ruto said.

“I introduced him to President Kagame of Rwanda, and today he tells us he has US$1.7 billion to invest in Zimbabwe. A fellow African, that is what I am talking about.”

Ruto concluded by urging COMESA member states to work together to shape the region’s economic future.

“The future of our region will be shaped by what we choose to build together. One Market, One Future. Let us build it with new determination, and let us deliver it for every one of our people,” he said.

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