Azimio leader Raila Odinga has inched closer to becoming the next chairperson of the African Union Commission after the AU Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) proposed changes to the rules governing the nomination and elections of officials.
According to the new proposals, the commission’s chairperson position will be reserved for East Africa in the elections scheduled for next year.
The Northern Africa region, on the other hand, will be eligible to nominate candidates for the position of deputy chairperson.
The committee also abolished a previously proposed rule that would have seen the seat reserved for a woman in the spirit of gender equity, instead asking the different regions eligible to nominate candidates to pick either gender for the respective positions.
“The Permanent Representatives Committee agreed on Approach 2 Option (b), which means that the Eastern Africa region will be eligible to nominate candidates for the position of chairperson while the Northern Africa region will be eligible to nominate candidates for the position of Deputy Chairperson,” a statement from the committee said.
“The PRC agreed on non-application of gender rotation in the application of the principle of rotational gender parity. The PRC position aligns with Kenya’s interpretation of this principle”.
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Both Eastern and Northern Africa regions are now at liberty to nominate candidates of either gender for the posts of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson respectively.
Kenya has nominated Azimio leader Raila Odinga for the position and he has been endorsed by Uganda President Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. However, Somalia has fronted its former Foreign minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam for the same job, making it a two-horse race so far. Somalia is a member of the East African Community.
This latest development means that Odinga is currently considered a frontrunner for the seat, but the bloc has to agree on the eventual candidate after diplomatic horse-trading.
President Kagame’s endorsement came just days after President William Ruto told a gathering of the East African Legislative Assembly in Nairobi that the East African Community heads of State had agreed to back one candidate for chairmanship of the African Union Commission.
“We have sat down in the spirit of EAC, consulted as heads of State and agreed to front one candidate because that is the strength of our community,” President Ruto said, adding that the decision was arrived at after intensive consultation.
PRC, in its communication, noted that the new regulations, to be presented before the executive council for ratification and adoption, are set to guide the election process slated for next year.
Other proposals made by the team include one on intra-regional rotation, which provides that intra-regional rotation should be based on regional consultations and not on the English alphabetical order.
Also proposed is the allocation of commissioners’ portfolios, which the committee said will be open for competition by candidates nominated by the three remaining regions (Central, Southern and Western Africa).
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