Raila Odinga's path to African Union Commission chair post gets easier
Friday March 15 2024
Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga who on April 4, 2023 called for parties outside parliament to be involved in talks on electoral reform and the high cost of living. PHOTO | BONFACE BOGITA | NMG
Kenya is preparing to launch a continental campaign after the African Union (AU) Executive Council dropped two key proposals that would have locked out its candidate for the Commission (AUC) chairperson seat.
According to Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, the continental bloc will no longer demand that the next AUC chair be a woman.
Read: Raila quest for AUC top seat faces gender hurdle
They also agreed that the next chair be from eastern Africa although the region will have autonomy to agree on who runs.
Mr Mudavadi is also Kenya’s Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Cabinet Secretary.
A dispatch from Mudavadi’s office said the council “unanimously” asserted the right of the Eastern Africa region to produce the next chairperson of the African Union Commission.
“This is a major breakthrough for the Eastern Africa region to present candidates for the position of chairperson of the AUC,” said Mudavadi in a dispatch on Friday.
Read: EAC to back one candidate for AUC top job
The Executive Council is composed of foreign ministers of AU member states and its decisions are often the penultimate act of endorsing a policy shift in the AU system.
The council’s decision will now have to be approved by the Assembly, comprised of the heads of State and government of the 55-member bloc. It is only after the Assembly approves that it will become official regulation at the AU.
Relief for Odinga
The rules drop gives a sigh of relief to Mr Odinga who would have been locked out of the race had they been adopted.
And Kenya said it lobbied members. However, sources told The EastAfrican that Nairobi profited from the general disagreement on whether rotation and gender parity should be tied on a rule.
Since 2021, the African Union agreed that the deputy chair of the AUC be of the opposite gender. But they had never agreed on alternating genders for the post of chairperson. They did agree, in 2018, that regions must rotate their hold on the chair in their English alphabetical order: Central, Eastern, Northern, Western, and Southern.
The current chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, is from Chad in central Africa and is deputised by Monique Nsanzabaganwa of Rwanda from the eastern bloc.
“It is now clear that the Rt-Hon Raila Odinga will be in the race for the AU Commission Chairperson,” Mr Mudavadi said. “Effectively, there are no more technical or legal hurdles preventing Kenya from submitting its candidate.”
The decision means only the Northern Africa region will front candidates for the deputy chairperson, while the other three regions --Central, Southern and Western-- will compete for the six positions of commissioners.
Eastern Africa has 14 member states, often transcending their traditional regional blocs. For example, Madagascar often in the southern region belongs to Eastern Africa.