By Patrick Biddah
Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on African Union (AU) Member States to take decisive steps towards achieving financial independence, insisting that Africa cannot continue to rely heavily on external partners to finance its development programmes, peace operations and continental priorities.
Delivering his welcome address at the 27th Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union on Financing the Union in Accra, Mr Ablakwa said the continent’s quest for financial autonomy must go hand in hand with institutional efficiency, improved accountability and the prudent management of available resources.
He observed that although African countries were projected to finance almost 99 per cent of the Union’s operational budget in 2027, their contribution towards programmes that directly affect the lives of Africans remained significantly low.
Member States were expected to finance only about four per cent of the programme budget and 12 per cent of the peace and security budget, leaving much of the funding burden to external partners.
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The Minister described the situation as a contradiction in Africa’s ambition to exercise greater control over its development agenda, stressing that the continent could not claim genuine financial sovereignty while depending on others to finance its most critical priorities.
“We pay for the lights, but we ask others to pay for the work,” he remarked.
Mr Ablakwa further disclosed that only 18 out of the African Union’s 55 Member States had implemented the 0.2 per cent levy on eligible imports, a financing mechanism agreed upon in 2016 in Kigali to provide the Union with a predictable and sustainable source of revenue.
He urged Member States yet to implement the levy to honour their commitments or introduce equivalent domestic financing mechanisms that are transparent, predictable and verifiable.
He also raised concerns about the financial constraints affecting the Union’s institutional capacity, revealing that the vacancy rate across more than 3,000 approved positions stood at 63 per cent.
He added that the African Union faced a funding shortfall of more than US$200 million between its approved staff structure and the budget allocated to support it.
According to him, the funding gap was not merely an administrative challenge but one that undermined the Union’s ability to recruit qualified personnel, strengthen its institutions and effectively implement programmes across the continent.
He said vacant positions represented opportunities for young Africans to contribute to continental development that remained unfulfilled because of inadequate resources.
The Foreign Affairs Minister maintained that mobilising additional revenue alone would not resolve the Union’s financial challenges, arguing that institutional efficiency must be pursued alongside financial reforms.
He called for the elimination of duplication, the phasing out of overlapping programmes and the adoption of a unified programme-based budget, supported by a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the principle of one programme, one budget line.
He said the reforms should also be guided by a clear division of responsibilities among the African Union, Regional Economic Communities and Member States, with the AU providing strategic direction, regional bodies leading implementation and Member States assuming ownership, financing and accountability.
Mr Ablakwa recalled that African leaders, at their 2015 Johannesburg meeting, committed to financing 100 per cent of the Union’s operational budget, 75 per cent of its programme budget and 25 per cent of its peace and security budget.
He said the 0.2 per cent import levy subsequently agreed upon in Kigali in 2016 was designed to provide a practical mechanism for fulfilling those commitments.
He urged Member States to renew their political commitment to the financing agenda, emphasising that Africa’s financial independence would require collective responsibility rather than continued reliance on external assistance.
Ghana, he said, firmly supported Option C, the integrated pathway, which seeks to advance financial autonomy and institutional efficiency simultaneously.
As part of Ghana’s commitment, Mr Ablakwa announced that the country intended to deposit its instruments of ratification for the establishment of the African Central Bank, African Monetary Fund and African Investment Bank by 2027.
He also called on other Member States to take at least one concrete step towards ratification before their next meeting.
He further announced plans for Ghana to convene an Extraordinary Summit on African Financial Institutions in Accra in 2027, when the country is expected to assume the Chairmanship of the African Union.
He said the proposed summit would provide an opportunity for African countries to commit to building, capitalising and operationalising their own financial institutions.
The Minister proposed an Accra Declaration on Financing the Union, outlining six commitments, including the adoption of the integrated financing pathway, implementation of the import levy or equivalent domestic mechanisms, budget reforms, capitalisation of the AU Peace Fund towards the US$1 billion target, institutionalisation of partnerships with African multilateral financial institutions and a review of Member States’ contribution arrangements.
He called on the African Union Commission to develop a time-bound implementation framework with clearly assigned responsibilities, milestones and reporting mechanisms for consideration at the 2027 Summit.
