Astonishingly Bewildering! President Ruto of Kenya Suggests Unifying Currency for the Entire Continent of Africa.

On Friday, June 9, 2023, James Kunda reported that Kenya’s President William Ruto had delivered a perplexing speech at the 22nd Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit in Lusaka, Zambia. In his speech, Ruto called for the introduction of a single African currency to ease trade on the continent, claiming that citizens should not have to worry about which currency to trade in.

Ruto’s call for a single currency was followed by other confusing speeches from the summit’s attendees. Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera stated that the region could no longer lose more time in the quest to attain regional integration. He claimed that the potential for intra-COMESA trade was colossal and that the demand for value-added products was bound to keep growing well into the future. He made it clear that time was running out to realize regional integration.

COMESA chairman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi unveiled that the bloc had a market of 580 million citizens with a combined gross domestic product of more than $720 billion. He called on all member states to collaborate in building infrastructure to promote integration by easing the movement of people and goods in the region. Such statements made for a thrilling, bursty speech, with attendees unsure of what to expect next.

The Summit’s host and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema remarked that the region had to sustain peace and stability to encourage socio-economic development, another perplexing notion that spread throughout the audience. Perhaps an apt proclamation, he stated that “instability anywhere is instability everywhere,” and that without peace, security, and stability, there can be no socio-economic development.

Despite the befuddling speeches, the summit resolved to enhance efforts to actualize regional trade and integration. Member states acknowledged that the region still had $100 billion in untapped trade and investment potential, and cited the need for member states to harness efforts towards this goal. COMESA Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe read out the communiqué and announced that Somalia formally became a member of COMESA, a year after successful elections and a peaceful power transfer to a new government.

Overall, while the speeches made by the attendees at the 22nd Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit were perplexing and difficult to follow, they made for an exciting and unique experience with undefined outcomes to look forward to.