By Peter Ochieng
Azimio La Umoja One Kenye leader, Raila Odinga’s bid to become the next African Union Commission (AUC) chairman has received a major boost, ahead of the early 2025 elections.
During a joint press briefing with Odinga on Wednesday, Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) and the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, revealed that a campiagn secretariat has been formed by the government, to spearhead Odinga’s bid.
He said the secretariat comprises of officials from the government and Raila’s team.
“It will prepare all the briefs for use by the candidate, develop campaign materials including digital presence, and prepare for the public debate to be broadcast live for African citizens. The team is firming up preparatory and application documents together with requisite translations of the resume into 6 languages; Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, English, and Kiswahili,” said the Prime CS.
Besides President William Ruto, Odinga has secured endorsements from 8 African heads of state among them Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and his Zimabwe counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa, have also endorsed him.
Odinga said he was surprised when President Ruto’s administration endorsed him, adding that he is confident of winning the race for the next AUC chairman.
“I was surprised when I saw the Kenyan government saying yes to my candidature. I expected them to say no. With the commitment between the government and my team, we will be able to clinch the seat.”
Mudavadi added that Odinga is the right man for the job. “We have no doubt that the candidate will pursue excellence in line with the continent’s collective aspirations of the Africa we want in 2063 as framed in the AUC development framework,” he noted.
In order to be elected the next AUC chairman, Odinga will have to negotiate a corner against Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Youssouf, and Somalia’s former deputy prime minister and current member of the Federal Parliament, Fawzia Yusuf.
If he wins, he will serve from 2025 to 2028 for the first term. The seat is set to fall vacant next year as the current occupant, Chad’s Moussa Faki, is set to finish his second term.
Faki was first elected in 2017 and won a second term in 2021.