ODM leader Raila Odinga has received another boost in his quest for the Africa Union Commission chairperson position after Mauritius supported his candidature.
President William Ruto, in a statement on Tuesday evening, said that the newly-elected Mauritius prime minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, had agreed to support Odinga for the position.
This means that Mauritius, which had proposed a candidate for the position, will now withdraw its candidature for the race, handing Odinga another win ahead of the elections slated for February next year.
The decision represents a shift in strategy for Mauritius, whose previous candidate had been endorsed by former prime minister Pravind Jugnauth.
“I have had a telephone conversation with the newly-elected Prime Minister of Mauritius, Navinchandra Ramgoolam. I congratulated him on his election and for the faith the people of his country have shown in him and his party.
“We affirmed the strong and cordial diplomatic ties between our two countries and peoples and committed ourselves to deepening the relations.
“Prime Minister Ramgloolam confirmed his support for Kenya’s candidate to the African Union Commission Chairperson, Raila Odinga, for which I expressed much appreciation,” President Ruto said.
The withdrawal of the Mauritius candidate is a significant boost for Odinga, who has been rallying support from across the continent.
Odinga has in the past seven days, been on a campaign in West Africa, visiting at least seven West African countries, to rally for support and share his vision for Africa.
His campaign in West Africa will conclude on Wednesday, November 27, when he is scheduled to meet with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Odinga, who in September was unveiled by Kenya as the EAC candidate for the AUC chairmanship, will battle it out with former Djibouti foreign minister Mahmoud Youssouf and Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato.
The former prime minister has so far received the endorsement of a number of African leaders, including President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Samia Suluhu of Tanzania, Salva Kiir (South Sudan) as well as Burundi’s prime minister Gervais Ndirakobuca.
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 to 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.
The 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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