The plans by Kenya to secure the full endorsement of countries in the East African region for the candidature of ODM leader Raila Odinga for the African Union Commission chairmanship now appears to be in limbo.
This is after it emerged that Somalia, one of the partner states of the community, will not be backing the candidature of Odinga, ahead of the AU elections slated for February next year.
Somalia, has instead indicated that it will be supporting former Djibouti foreign minister Mahmoud Youssouf, a candidate in the race, in the elections next year.
The new development comes even as Odinga kicked off campaigns in West Africa this week, with an earlier statement released by the ministry of foreign affairs, stating the new position by Somalia.
— For detailed coverage of Odinga’s AUC chairmanship bid, read the September issue of Nairobi Law Monthly, available at epaper.nairobilawmonthly.com.
Foreign affairs principal secretary Korir Sing’oei, argued that Somalia had indicated to Kenya that it had made an earlier commitment to support Djibouti in the race.
“We invited them (EAC countries) to constitute themselves as a committee of candidatures under the EAC framework, and we invited them to take a decision on the candidature of Hon Odinga and to resolve to support his candidature and campaign.
“All the countries present supported it except Somalia, which supported the consensus but indicated that they had made a prior commitment to Djibouti before Odinga declared his candidature,” the PS said.
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The new position comes even as former Somalia foreign minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam in August this year threw her weight behind Odinga, after she withdrew from the race.
Odinga, who in September was unveiled by Kenya as the EAC candidate for the AUC chairmanship, will battle it out with Youssouf alongside Anil Gayan of Mauritius 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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