ODM leader Raila Odinga received another boost to his bid to become the next chairman of the African Union Commission after Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema announced his support for the candidacy of the opposition chief.
President Hichilema made the announcement after a bilateral meeting with President William Ruto at the COMESA summit in Bujumbura, Burundi in October.
The support of the Zambian leader comes just months before the AUC election scheduled for February 2025.
The decision to support Mr Odinga, was made after Dr Ruto and President Hichilema reached a reciprocal agreement with Kenya pledging to endorse Zambia’s nominee, Dr Samuel Maimbo, for the presidency of the African Development Bank.
Dr Maimbo, Zambia’s candidate, is aiming to succeed Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina in the role.
“We have committed to support former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, for the position of African Union Commission Chairperson,” President Hichilema said on his social media account.
President Ruto and President Hichilema also discussed creating a joint trade committee to address trade challenges between Kenya and Zambia.
Aside from President Hichilema, Mr Odinga has also received the backing of presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Samia Suluhu of Tanzania, Salva Kiir (South Sudan) as well as Burundi’s prime minister Gervais Ndirakobuca.
Former Somalia foreign affairs minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam who withdrew from the race, has also thrown her weight behind Odinga, further solidifying the opposition leader’s position as one of the leading contenders for the seat.
The Azimio leader Odinga, is set to contest for the seat alongside other candidates including Djibouti’s foreign affairs minister Mahmoud Youssouf, Anil Gayan of Mauritius and Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato.
Odinga is the second Kenyan to contest for the AUC chairman position after former cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed who lost the seat to outgoing commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat in 2017.
According a resolution passed and endorsed by the AU Executive Council in March, the AUC chairman position is set to go to a candidate from the East Africa region.
This means that the next election, slated for February 2025, will be a contest between Odinga and the three other candidates, in a race whose outcome will be influenced by many factors among them regional interests between the AU member states.
African Union is classified into five regions – Southern, Central, Eastern, Western and Northern Africa. The Central, Southern and Western regions have all produced representatives to the commission since 2002.
Some of the past leaders of the commission include Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma of South Africa, Jean Ping of Gabon, Alpha Oumar Konaré of Mali and Amara Essy of Côte d’Ivoire who held the position of AUC chairman on an interim basis during the transition from OAU to AU between 2002 and 2003.
The current and outgoing AUC chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat is from Chad and has held the position since his election in 2017. Therefore, the February 2025 election will be contest between the four candidates from the East African region, among them Odinga.
The AU is currently made up of 55-member states divided between the French-speaking Francophone states and the English-speaking Anglophones all which represent the countries on the African continent.
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