Following Kenya’s defeat in the African Union elections, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s supporters have threatened to demand that Kenya leave the organization.
Mahmoud Youssouf, the foreign affairs minister of Djibouti, defeated Kenya’s Raila in the race for the position of chairperson of the African Union Commission.
In the seventh round of voting, Youssouf received 33 votes and was chosen as the AUC’s chair.
In the elections, Raila went off against Youssouf and Richard Randriamandrato, the former Foreign Affairs Minister of Madagascar.
Peter Kaluma, a member of parliament from Homa Bay Town, stated that he will advocate for the East African Community (EAC) to leave the African Union.
With its headquarters located in Arusha, Tanzania, the EAC is a regional intergovernmental organization that consists of eight partner states: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Samuel Atandi, the MP for Alego Usonga, stated that Kenya should reconsider its financial obligations to the AU.
He said, “Kenya must now limit its financial commitments to AU in the short term and exit in the long term.”
While expressing gratitude to President William Ruto for supporting Raila, Senator Ledama Olekina of Narok proposed splitting the AU in two.
With the exception of nations ruled by the military, member states pick the AUC chairperson.
A two-thirds majority of the votes must be cast for a contender to win. The Assembly elects the chairwoman of the AUC for a four-year term that is renewable once.
The five areas take turns holding the seat, and this time the Eastern region might send a candidate, while the Northern region could send a deputy chairperson.
The victor of Saturday’s election required two-thirds of the total votes, or 33, with 49 heads of state participating.
The election took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 38th Ordinary Summit of African Union Heads of State and Government.
