Ruto hands over COMESA chairmanship, pushes for levy to fund regional programmes

COMESA is the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. It brings countries together to expand trade, strengthen regional integration and promote economic growth. Its chairperson helps guide the bloc’s priorities and speaks about how members should deliver shared commitments.

The chairperson serves for one year and takes part in the summit process. William Ruto became chairperson at the 24th COMESA Summit in Nairobi on October 9, 2025. During his tenure, he promoted digital technology, wider trade and inclusive growth. He also pressed members to improve financing.

At the 25th summit in Harare, Ruto handed the role to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. He used the transition to urge action on the COMESA Market Levy and a resource mobilisation strategy. The chairperson therefore helps keep integration, trade, funding and regional cooperation on the leaders’ agenda.

Ruto’s handover followed the normal one-year rotation of the COMESA chairmanship. He took the position from Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye at the 24th COMESA Summit in Nairobi on October 9, 2025. He later transferred it to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the 25th summit in Harare.

During his term, Ruto promoted digital technology as a tool for deeper integration, expanded trade and inclusive growth. He also highlighted financing, regional value chains and stronger use of African financial institutions. These priorities shaped his final address as chairperson.

The handover matters because it keeps COMESA’s leadership moving while leaving major tasks for the bloc. Ruto urged members to fast-track the Market Levy and develop a resource mobilisation strategy. Mnangagwa now takes over as COMESA continues its integration agenda.

Article 168 of the COMESA Treaty provides for a COMESA Market Levy. The treaty establishes the levy to generate resources for financing the bloc’s activities. Its purpose is to give COMESA a more sustainable and predictable way to pay for programmes and institutions.

The article does not state the levy’s rate, collection method or exact annual revenue. It does explain that COMESA’s Secretariat should fast-track the treaty provision. Officials from finance ministries, central banks and other agencies are also expected to consider a wider Resource Mobilisation Strategy.

That strategy would seek new funding sources and strengthen member states’ ownership of regional programmes. Ruto argued that every agreed programme needs matching resources. The levy could therefore connect members’ commitments to a dependable funding stream, helping COMESA deliver rather than issue promises its budgets cannot support.

COMESA’s reported economic activity spans both regional and global trade. Exports among member states rose by 10.5 per cent to $14.7 billion, the highest level recorded between 2020 and 2025. Exports to global markets increased by 6 per cent to $212 billion.

The comparison is striking: the bloc’s exports to the wider world were far larger than trade among its own members. The article also reports that COMESA’s economic growth rose from 5.6 per cent in 2024 to 6.4 per cent in 2025. Inflation fell from 31 per cent to 13.2 per cent over the same period.

These figures show both scale and opportunity. COMESA already connects economies to global markets, but its leaders want more trade inside the region. Stronger value chains could help members buy, process and sell more goods among themselves while responding to disrupted global supply chains.

Reliable funding turns regional agreements into working programmes. COMESA may set goals for trade, infrastructure, integration and development, but those goals require money for institutions and implementation. Without dependable resources, decisions can remain promises rather than results.

Ruto made this risk clear at the Harare summit. He said every programme should be matched with resources and warned against ambitious plans supported by timid financing. He urged the Secretariat to fast-track Article 168, which provides for the Market Levy, and called for a Resource Mobilisation Strategy.

If members fail to fund commitments, COMESA’s institutions could struggle to carry out agreed work. Regional integration could slow, and opportunities to expand intra-African trade could be missed. Ruto therefore asked members to make financing central to discussions and consider whether they can finance what they commit to deliver.

Ruto said Africa holds more than $4 trillion in domestic financial assets. The challenge is directing more of that money into African institutions and development projects instead of leaving funds in foreign accounts while local projects lack capital.

He identified the Trade and Development Bank, ATIDI and ZEP-RE as institutions that could mobilise capital for regional priorities. Governments could place more reserves with them, finance more projects through them, and support their bonds and guarantees. These actions would help connect available savings to trade, infrastructure and development needs.

The article does not specify individual project amounts or financing terms. Its broader mechanism is clear: stronger African institutions could gather domestic resources, provide financial backing and help projects attract investment. More capital flowing through these institutions could support regional trade and infrastructure while strengthening African ownership of development finance.

Regional value chains link countries through the stages of producing and selling goods. Processing raw materials locally can create more economic activity before products leave the region. It can also reduce dependence on importing finished goods, although the article does not quantify the gains.

Ruto said African countries should process more raw materials locally instead of exporting them and importing finished products. He invited partners seeking Africa’s minerals, markets and young workforce to invest, process and build with African countries. This describes a mechanism based on shared production rather than simple extraction.

Stronger value chains matter even more as global supply chains face disruption and protectionism returns. More processing and trade among COMESA members could support regional resilience and development. Ruto called for partnerships based on mutual benefit and equal treatment, with Africans having a greater role in deciding how resources and markets support growth.