Kenya is racing against time to officially nominate Azimio leader Raila Odinga for the chairmanship of the African Union Commission.
This comes after the government missed its June 30 deadline, attributing its delay to the protests witnessed in the country over the last three weeks.
It has now emerged that Kenya could submit Raila’s candidacy for the continent’s top job by mid-July, after moving fast to steady the process on Monday.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei chaired the first technical committee comprising the government and Raila’s teams after a long lull that triggered concerns about Kenya’s candidature.
“The committee reviewed the progress made towards submission of the formal application, the official launch of candidature and the outreach programme,” Sing’oei said after the meeting.
Those who sit in Raila’s AUC campaigns strategy team include Kenya’s former ambassador to the US Elkanah Odembo, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) former Executive Director Mahboub Maalim, ambassador Anthony Okara, professor Makau Mutua and ex-Nyeri Deputy Governor Caroline Karugu.
During the Monday meeting, Mahboub and Mutua were present.
“The government is firm in support of this bid,” Sing’oei said.
The teams are expected to intensify meetings in the coming days to align and build consensus on Raila’s CC, Vision Statement, and the application for submission this month.
Odembo said they are looking at ‘mid-July’ for the submission of Raila’s bid to the AU secretariat.
With the exercise expected to consume resources, the government could be forced to relax its austerity measures to facilitate the establishment of the joint campaign secretariat and deploy envoys for shuttle diplomatic efforts.
In Kenya’s failed bid for the AUC post in 2017, the country spent Sh437.7 million on campaigns for former cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, according to documents tabled in Parliament then.
Mohamed lost her bid to Mousa Faki.
Prime Cabinet Musalia Mudavadi who is also the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary had last month announced that Kenya would submit its candidature to the African Union secretariat by the end of June.
It has now emerged that Kenya could not submit Raila’s nomination because of failure to build consensus on nomination details and harmonize his application.
After Kenya missed its deadline, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now racing against time to firm up Raila’s nomination and set the whole process on course ahead of the AUC deadline.
The African Union Commission has set August 6 as the deadline for the submission of the candidacy of the various hopefuls seeking to succeed Moussa Faki.
In a communiqué issued by the Office of the Legal Council in May, the AUC said each candidate for the position of chairperson would be required to submit a curriculum vitae(CV) in the approved AU format together with a brief statement of his or her vision for the position.
The statement by the candidates should outline how they intend to address the most pressing issues facing the AU and the continent in at least two of the union’s working languages.
“However, member states of the eastern region are encouraged to submit the CVs and vision of the candidates in all the six languages of the union,” the communiqué stated.
This means that Kenya will submit the candidacy of Raila, his CV and vision statement in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Kiswahili.
Sing’oei had on Monday told the Star that Raila’s bid is yet to be submitted due to the chaos and confusion that has rampaged the country over the past two weeks.
“The country has been in a state of chaos and confusion over the past two weeks following anti-Finance Bill protests and that is why we have not submitted it,” he said in a phone interview.
Korir further stated that the process for Raila’s candidacy bid will be submitted before the set deadline and in good time.
President William Ruto’s government has promised to pull out all the stops to ensure Raila secures the highly coveted seat that would catapult him to the stature of head of state.
Raila’s candidacy has also secured the backing of other African states including Malawi and Zambia, boosting his bid to succeed Moussa Faki at the helm of the AUC.
