Ruto’s parting COMESA call: Remove the barriers, honour the commitments
As Kenya hands over the COMESA chairmanship, Ruto leaves member states with a clear agenda — and a pointed reminder that progress on paper means nothing without implementation.
By Joan Njoki
President William Ruto yesterday launched the COMESA Medium-Term Strategic Plan 2026–2030 and the 2025 Annual Report at the 25th COMESA Heads of State and Government Summit in Harare, using his final act as bloc chairman to press member states on the gap between regional integration commitments and delivery on the ground.
Ruto said the annual report demonstrated measurable progress in trade and investment across the 21-member bloc, but issued an unambiguous challenge to fellow heads of state. He called on member states to fully implement the COMESA Free Trade Area, facilitate the free movement of people, connect national payment systems to regional platforms, meet existing financial obligations to the bloc in full and on time, and dismantle the non-tariff barriers that continue to strangle cross-border commerce.
“We must do more to increase trade among our countries, remove barriers to trade, improve connectivity and ensure that all our citizens benefit from regional integration,” Ruto said.
The plan, which will guide COMESA’s economic integration agenda through 2030, arrives as the bloc faces growing pressure to demonstrate that Africa’s regional architecture can deliver tangible benefits to ordinary citizens rather than producing summits, reports and commitments that accumulate without consequence.
Words have been plentiful. The test now is implementation.
Some of the moments as captured in pictures
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