In February 2021, Monique Nsanzabaganwa became the first woman to be elected Deputy Chairperson (DCP) of the African Union Commission (AUC). Working under Amb. Moussa Faki Mahamat, the African Union Commission Chairperson, Nsanzabaganwa is in charge of administration and finance and acts as the Chairperson in the former’s absence.

During her latest working trip to Kigali, The New Times caught up with Nsanzabaganwa for a conversation on her legacy at the AUC, the AfCFTA and what it will take to get to the 'Africa We Want.' She talked about, among others, the challenges in her assignment of leading the implementation of institutional reform of the African Union aimed to achieve a lean, efficient, and sustainably financed organization, and some of the achievements she is proud of.

The excerpts:

As your four-year term at the AUC comes to an end, what achievements are you most proud of?

I am part of a new Commission of eight people; the first Commission after the reform that Rwanda's President Paul Kagame spearheaded before handing over to President William Ruto of Kenya, earlier this year. My role has been to fast-track the implementation of the reform.

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It has been a challenging and complex process of restructuring an intergovernmental and multilateral, organisation like the African Union, which has member states who have to make decisions and dip in their pockets to find money to implement the decisions. Sometimes their level of ambition is not equal to the amount of money they are able to put on the table and this has been a challenge.

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The AUC is not a supranational commission, unlike the European Union Commission, for example, where member states give you the authority over them. The AUC is like the implementing agency arm of the African Union, but the member states remain the sovereigns, so the Commission cannot take any sanctions against them or dictate what to do. Everything has to be negotiated and reaching a consensus between 55 countries can be a long process.

Despite these hurdles, I am proud to say we have now implemented a new Commission that is structured. That work is completed and we are pushing to really stabilise the structure. I am also proud to say that we have revived the [AU] Peace Fund whose objective is providing the necessary financial resources for peace support missions and other operational activities related to peace and security in Africa.

I have been crisscrossing the continent, mobilising the private sector to contribute to the fund. We had the very first event in Accra, Ghana, in July this year, where we mobilised more than $200 million in cash and in kind towards the peace fund.

I have also spearheaded financial inclusion and economic inclusion of women and youth on the continent. I have been doing this, not as part of my terms of reference as a DCP, but out of passion and as a woman.

We have now an initiative called Women and Youth Financial and Economic Inclusion, WYFEI 2030, which seeks to unlock US$100 billion for at least 10 million women and youth by 2030, leveraging and building on existing initiatives and financial instruments both in the public and private sector. The initiative has been institutionalised and we have staff who are running it. So, I feel like it does not have to depend on me. It can now run on its own. I'm sure that the initiative will be a framework where the African Union can mobilise the continent and beyond to meaningfully support women and youth.

The last achievement I would like to highlight is the digital transformation. We started our digital strategy by making sure that we have a strong state-of-the-art data center.

We are dealing with sensitive information of member states that we need to protect. And for that reason, we needed to reclaim our data sovereignty. We are also strengthening our cyber security. So that is something I am very proud of.

What challenges do we need to overcome to get to the 'Africa We Want?'

One is mindset. Mindset is the first challenge that we need to overcome; from our Heads of State, to the Ministers, the Ambassadors and down to the commission itself. As Africans, we are still plagued with legacy systems, poor administration, and divisive politics, which overshadow the bigger picture. We also lack visionary leaders at all levels, something that needs to change.

Then there is unity. Unity is about sacrificing some selfish interests for the common good of the continent. Individually, each of the 55 countries is small, but when we come together, we are a force of 1.4 billion people. So, when we don't come together to harness this power we have, then we can only be manipulated and turned against one another. If we don't get smart, then this force is not going to serve us.

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Third is finance. Finance has been a challenge with many countries unwilling to implement the 0.2 per cent levy mechanism which was supposed, theoretically, to afford the organisation more than 1.4 billion dollars per year. The levy to be derived from 0.2 percent of the value of the eligible goods imported into a Member State from a non-Member State is meant to finance 100% operational budget, 75% program budget and 25% budget of the peace support operations of the African Union as well as any other expenditure of the Union that may be determined by the Assembly. So far, only 17 countries, including Rwanda, are implementing the mechanism.

What alternative sources of financing are you considering as a Commission?

We are trying to monetise some of the assets that we have. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we put in place what we called Africa Medicine Supply Platform, a single-source platform that enabled faster, transparent and cost-effective access to Covid-19 supplies.

We can generate an income from this platform by charging a small fee for whoever wants to use it. Solutions are available, if we are keen on working together to find them.

What can be done to ensure the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has really taken off?

The AfCFTA has taken off. Though we could definitely do so much more. It's only been one year or so since we started the Guided Trade Initiative and now it's picking up.

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We are seeing 39 countries joining the initiative. As we test and prove this concept, we are seeing what's working and what's not and we are trying to fix the emerging challenges. I am confident that we will see exponential growth in due time.

What next for Monique Nsanzabaganwa?

What next for me? (laughs) Wherever I will be, I will remain true to my passion for women and financial inclusion. I will also remain passionate about Africa, because I believe that we are a powerhouse of solutions for the world.