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| - Yes, the African Union relies heavily on foreign funding, and the US is the African Development Bank’s second-largest shareholder.
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Kenya’s most recent GDP data measured the economy at US$108 billion, while a new World Bank estimate puts it at $124.6 billion in 2024, close to Lumumba’s claim.
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However, the East African Community has a potential market of over 330 million people based on its population.
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The African Union (AU) is a group of 55 African countries, with the African Union Commission (AUC) as its administrative arm.
On 15 February 2025, Kenyan politician Raila Odinga lost his bid to chair the AUC. Since then, the country’s public debate has focused on the AU and the reasons for his defeat.
Djibouti’s foreign minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf was elected chairperson.
Some blamed Odinga’s loss on Kenya’s diplomatic missteps in Africa, while his allies in parliament considered leaving the AU.
On 17 February, Kenyan legal scholar Prof Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, usually known as PLO Lumumba, joined the debate on Spice FM, a radio station with national reach.
Known for his speeches on governance and Africa’s future, Lumumba called for “decolonising the mind” and the independence of African institutions. He cited the AU’s reliance on foreign funding and the external shareholding of the African Development Bank (AfDB) as a sign of a foreign “takeover”.
Lumumba also highlighted Africa’s potential for intra-African trade, including in regional blocs such as the East African Community (EAC).
We verified four interesting claims from his radio interview.
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We contacted Lumumba for the source of his claim and will update this report with his response.
The AU is funded by its 55 member states and foreign donors, including countries, global institutions, and philanthropists. Its funding remains a debated issue inside its China-funded headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
A key document on the topic is a 2017 report on AU reforms by Rwandan president Paul Kagame.
The report cited the AU’s 2017 handbook, which showed that out of a budget of US$782 million, donors were expected to cover $576 million (74%), while member states contributed 26% ($205 million).
The AU handbook outlines the union’s structure, policies, finances and key decisions. It is regularly updated and cited in AU discussions.
In its 2013-2023 10-year plan, the AU vowed to wean itself from donor dependency so that “Africa takes full responsibility for financing her development”.
To achieve this, it introduced new funding sources, including a levy on all member countries, income from rent and asset sales, contributions from African institutions and cost-cutting measures.
The AU’s 2023 handbook, the most recent, showed that international partners funded 66.6% ($435.99 million) of the $654.9 million budget.
Budget trends
Africa Check contacted Teshome Shunde, an Ethiopian diplomat and co-author of the 2023 paper African Union Self-Sustainable Financing Reform and its Challenges. He heads political and public diplomacy at Ethiopia’s embassy in Kenya.
His paper showed that from 2011 to 2020, international partners funded over half of the AU budget, peaking at 73.8% in 2017.
Shunde referred us to a repository containing key AU decisions and declarations, including budget decisions.
Approved AU budgets 2021-2025 (US$ million)
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Year
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Total budget
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International partners
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International partner share of total budget
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2021
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636.1
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406.2
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65%
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2022
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651.1
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428.9
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66%
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2023
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654.9
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435.99
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67%
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2024
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605.8
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370.1
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61%
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2025
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608.3
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353.7
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58.1%
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Sources: AU executive decisions 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025
While international partners’ contribution to the overall AU budget is declining, programme funding tells a different story.
In 2023, $183.9 million (76.9%) of the $239 million programme budget came from foreign donors. This pattern continued in 2024, with 76.1% of the $274 million programme budget coming from international partners. And 2025 offers no relief: the AU plans to spend $388 million, but 77.5% ($300 million) will come from overseas.
Notably, from 2021 to 2025, 100% of peace support operations funds will come from international partners.
These figures show that the AU’s funding comes predominantly from external partners. Therefore, we rate this claim as correct.
The African Development Bank provides loans and grants to African countries to reduce poverty and improve living conditions.
Lumumba argued that the involvement of major external donors such as the US, Germany and Japan in the bank showed that African institutions “are being taken over”.
But are these countries major bank shareholders?
Eighty-one nations are shareholders: 54 are in Africa, and 27 are outside the continent.
The bank's media office told Africa Check that as of 31 December 2024, Nigeria had 9.32%, the US 6.51%, Egypt 6.32%, Japan 5.43%, Algeria 5.3% and South Africa 5.03%.
An October 2024 investor briefing revealed similar trends as of August 2024: Nigeria at 8.96%, followed by the US at 6.35%.
Others were Egypt (6.21%), Japan (5.28%), Algeria (5.16%), South Africa (4.98%), Morocco (4.64%), Germany (3.997%), Ivory Coast (3.82%), Canada (3.69%) and France (3.6%).
According to the brief, foreign countries own about 40% of the bank.
Lumumba was right that the US was the African Development Bank’s second-largest shareholder after Nigeria, and that Germany and Japan were also major shareholders.
“Look at Kenya; our GDP, give or take – if GDP is a good measure at all – is no more than $120 billion,” said Lumumba, as he urged more intra-African trade.
Is this accurate? (Note: The media house misquoted him on X as saying Kenya’s GDP was “no more than $20 billion”.)
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the monetary value of the final goods and services produced in a country in a given period, usually a year.
Kenya’s national statistics bureau records economic data and publishes its annual economic survey.
The country’s GDP was KSh15.1 trillion in 2023. At an average exchange rate of KSh139.85 per US dollar, this translates to about $108 billion. The World Bank also quotes this figure.
GDP figures for 2024 are not yet available.
In December 2024, the World Bank estimated Kenya’s GDP to be KSh16.8 trillion. At an average exchange rate of KSh134.82 per US dollar, this equals approximately $124.6 billion.
The most recent official GDP figures show Lumumba was correct, and he’s not far off if we use the World Bank’s estimates.
Lumumba said realising Africa’s vision of free trade and open borders would create a vast continental market, boosting economic growth and unity.
“Do that, and suddenly we have a market in East Africa, only of nearly 300 million people,” he said.
The East African Community, or EAC, is a regional intergovernmental block of eight states: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Its headquarters are in Arusha, Tanzania.
EAC data showed that 331.1 million people lived in these countries in 2023. The World Bank estimated 333.9 million people.
This data aligns with the population projections of the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
The EAC is home to more than 300 million people. Therefore, we rate the claim as incorrect.
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