The ‘Kagame Reforms’ of the AU: Will they stick?

This research paper assesses the progress and challenges of the institutional reform process of the African Union (AU) led by Rwanda's President Paul Kagame. Based on the 2017 'Kagame Report', the reforms aim to address inefficient bureaucracy, funding shortages, and overlapping mandates. The paper analyzes specific achievements, such as the reduction of AU commissioners and the restructuring of NEPAD and the APRM, while highlighting significant resistance from member states—particularly within SADC—and the ongoing struggle for financial autonomy through the Kigali Financing Decision.

• The 'Kagame Report' presented in 2017 proposed 19 recommendations (later expanded to 21) across six reform areas to address the AU's inefficient bureaucracy, funding shortages, and overlapping institutional mandates. These areas include focusing on fewer priority areas, clarifying the division of labour between AU structures, improving the efficiency of the AU Commission, strengthening sanctions, improving decision-making and implementation, and ensuring equitable regional and gender representation in recruitment.
• The AU has achieved several structural changes, including reducing the number of AU commissioners from eight to six by 2021 and combining the Department of Political Affairs and the Peace and Security Council under one commissioner. Additionally, the AU has moved toward holding only one Ordinary Summit per year starting in 2019 and established a troika arrangement for the chairpersonship to ensure continuity.
• The Kigali Financing Decision, specifically the 'Kaberuka Plan', seeks to reduce the AU's heavy reliance on external donors—who funded 60%–90% of the AU Commission and peace operations over the last decade—by implementing a 0.2% levy on eligible exports of member states. However, implementation has been slow; as of February 2018, only 12 member states had started implementing the levy, with others like South Africa and Egypt citing constitutional or WTO conflicts.
• The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is being transformed into the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) to resolve coordination challenges and competition for resources with the AU Commission. While the AU Assembly approved the establishment of AUDA as a technical body with its own legal personality, the retention of the 'NEPAD' brand is viewed as a compromise to satisfy founding members like Algeria and South Africa.
• The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has had its mandate expanded to oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the AU's Agenda 2063 and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. While this repositioning allows the APRM to consolidate reporting for member states and provides it with predictable funding from the AU Commission budget, the mechanism continues to face challenges regarding political commitment and administrative weaknesses.
• There is significant political resistance to the reforms, particularly from SADC member states and South Africa, who have criticized Paul Kagame's 'authoritarian' style and the use of non-formal retreats to drive the process. Some member states express concern that the reforms aim to transform the AU Commission into a 'supra-national' organization, which they perceive as a threat to state sovereignty.

APA

Turianskyi, Y., & Gruzd, S. (2019). The ‘Kagame Reforms’ of the AU: Will they stick? South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Occasional-Paper-299-Gruzd-Turianskyi.pdf

Chicago

Turianskyi, Yarik, and Steven Gruzd. The ‘Kagame Reforms’ of the AU: Will they stick? South African Institute of International Affairs, 2019. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Occasional-Paper-299-Gruzd-Turianskyi.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Turianskyi |first1=Yarik |last2=Gruzd |first2=Steven |title=The ‘Kagame Reforms’ of the AU: Will they stick? |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=July 2019 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Occasional-Paper-299-Gruzd-Turianskyi.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{turianskyi2019kagame, author = {Turianskyi, Yarik and Gruzd, Steven}, title = {{The ‘Kagame Reforms’ of the AU: Will they stick?}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Occasional-Paper-299-Gruzd-Turianskyi.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }