President William Ruto and Opposition chief Raila Odinga have embarked on a charm offensive mission to capture the African Union Commission chairmanship hoping not to suffer a defeat like the country suffered in 2017 when its candidate Amina Mohammed failed to clinch the much-coveted seat.
After former President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled Mohammed, the former Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ruto, the Deputy President led the campaign team that globe trotted to ensure that the country’s candidate got the position.
After she Mohammed was declared the country’s candidate, Ruto immediately embarked on a shuttle diplomacy and visited ten countries; Chad, DRC, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone and Gabon which pledged their support to Mohammed, but the countries did not keep their word to the ballot, as she was defeated by now the outgoing AUC chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Some of the reasons that were given that contributed to Kenya’s ’embarrassment’ included failure by the country to convince even its closest allies from East Africa to vote for their candidate, a feeling that the right candidate needed to be an insider at AU, Anglophone and Francophone countries intricacies among other reasons.
“South Sudan voted for Kenya but it is surprising that Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Tanzania did not vote for Kenya during the stages. We think it has to do with how Kenya relates with its neighbors. Burundi said Kenya interferes with her internal affairs by condemning the conflict there,” then South Sudan’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, James Morgan said.
He claimed to have seen Uganda’s Kaguta Museveni in an animated discussion with his Tanzanian counterpart during the sixth round and in the seventh round, Tanzania didn’t vote for Kenya.
When she failed to clinch the position, Mohammed said her failure was proof that the continent was divided given that 16 countries abstained saying Faki had a big job to unify the continent.
During the vote, Uganda only voted for Kenya’s candidate in the first round while Burundi and Djibouti sided with her competition, making it difficult for her to catch up with her Chadian competitor.
The French-speaking delegations ganged up and voted for one of their own, and when the race got down to Chad’s Mahamat versus Kenya’s Amina, the numbers quickly tilted in favour of the French speaker.
Morocco was also a key factor that was never shy of her support for Chad, throwing Algeria off balance on whom to support. Morocco heavily campaigned for Fakki, amassing numbers against Kenya’s candidate.
Unlike in 2017, when Ruto led the campaign in his capacity as the Deputy President and another taskforce which was headed by former Interior Minister Fred Matiangi to campaign for Mohammed, Ruto, in his capacity as the Head of State is leading the campaigns while Raila is also using his networks to endear himself to the African countries.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology University (JKUAT) Charles Nganga observed that Ruto, being an active participant in the 2017 campaigns for the country’s AUC campaigns could have learnt from the mistakes and is keen on rectifying the same by fielding Raila as the country’s choice.
“The issue of having a successor who is an insider is covered because Raila has been the African Union high Representative for Infrastructure Development and unlike in 2017 when Kenya did not gain favour by her neighbors, Kenya has started its campaigns in the East African community and things seem to going on Kenya’s way,” Ng’ng’a noted.
Early last month, Ruto, while addressing the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) in Nairobi announced that the East African Community (EAC) heads of state will back one candidate for chairmanship of the African Union Commission (AUC) and this was despite former Somalia Foreign Affairs minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam endearing herself to the ring to campaign against Raila.
“We have sat down in the spirit of EAC, consulted as heads of state and agreed to front one candidate, “the Head of State said.
Ruto who has been using bilateral trade agreements between Kenya and African countries to woo them to support Raila jetted back to the country and announced that he had secured four votes from Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic making the countries that has supported Raila’s bid to 13.
In a give and take agreement, Ghana agreed to support Raila’s bid while the country would support Ghana’s candidature for the Secretary General for Commonwealth
President William Ruto has secured Ghana’s support for Raila Odinga’s bid for the African Union chairmanship during his state visit to the country.
In a statement after holding talks with President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ruto said Kenya will in turn support Ghana’s candidature for the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
“I thank you most sincerely for accepting to support Kenya’s candidature for the position of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (2025-2028). On our part, I have assured His Excellency that Kenya will support the Republic of Ghana for the candidature of Hon Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, for the position of Secretary General of the Commonwealth for the period 2024-2029,”. He said during the Kenya-Ghana Joint Media Briefing at Jubilee House, Accra.
President Ruto said Kenya’s candidature is informed by the country’s leading role in enhancing and sustaining the Pan-African Agenda in terms of independence and sovereignty, peace and security, development and prosperity, and sustainability and climate action.
During Ruto’s state visit to Guinea-Bissau, the two countries agreed to implement policies that will boost trade between the two countries with Ruto saying Kenya and Guinea-Bissau were keen on implementing the Memorandum of Understanding that established a Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC) signed in 2022.
Raila has used his extensive network in Africa to campaign for the position and on February 29, he said seven African President had agreed to support his bid key among them Samia Suluhu (Tanzania) Sakva Kiir (South Sudan) Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) and Felix Tshisekendi (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
“Mama Suluhu has said she will support me, Salva Kiir has accepted. The other day I was with Ramaphosa, he said yes, Tshisekedi said yes,” he said.
Raila had travelled to Uganda on February 26 alongside Ruto, and he had also travelled to Rwanda a day before the leaders lobbied for his bid in Namibia during the burial of President Hage Geingob.
On March 8 Raila visited Rwanda’s Kagame and said ‘Had an insightful conversation with President Paul Kagame in Kigali diving into regional and Pan African ideals. We are committed to African unity and solidarity for shared prosperity and progress.
His candidature received a boost after the African Union Executive Council unanimously resolved that candidates for the position of the next chairperson of the AU Commission would be nominated by the Eastern African Regional States.
The resolution on March 15, 2024, was in accordance with the Statute of the AU Commission, the Rules of Procedure, the African Union policy organs and the decisions of the Assembly of Heads of States and Government.
