Kenya has kicked off campaigns for its candidate for the African Union Commission chairperson Raila Odinga with President William Ruto lobbying other African leaders to vote for the opposition leader in next year’s election.
Ruto, together with Odinga and other senior government officials, on Tuesday and Wednesday spent part of their time during the State visit to China urging other African leaders at the event to vote for Odinga in the upcoming poll.
The Head of State, as part of the campaigns, met with the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno of Chad and Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé of Togo to lobby for votes for Odinga.
Others were Umaro Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau and Colonel Assimi Goita of Mali.
“Pan-Africanism is an ideal platform to harness unity within the continent and the Diaspora. It will enable countries and organisations with a common agenda to discuss matters of mutual interest, including the African Union Agenda 2063 and the reforms of the United Nations,” Ruto said.
“Held talks with Presidents Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé of Togo and Colonel Assimi Goita of Mali on a pan-African Congress to be held in Lome, Togo, later in the year. Also discussed support for the candidature of the Right Honourable Raila Odinga for the position of the chairperson of the African Union Commission,” Ruto said.
The campaigns by Ruto follows the August launch of Odinga’s candidature as Kenya’s and the East African region’s candidate for the AUC chairmanship.
Already, a secretariat headed by foreign affairs principal secretary Korir Sing’Oei has also been unveiled to spearhead campaigns for the Odinga and rally for support across the continent ahead of the vote.
Odinga, who declared his candidature for the AUC chairman position earlier this year, will need at least 36 votes of the 55 AU member states to win the seat.
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The Azimio leader will 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.
The opposition leader has so far received the endorsement of several African leaders such as Presidents Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Museveni of Uganda, Suluhu of Tanzania, Kiir of South Sudan, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (Ghana), Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe among others.
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.
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 a contest between the four candidates from the East African region, among them Odinga.
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