In roughly 11 days, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga will find out the outcome of his attempt to obtain the role of chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC).
During the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government, set to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 15 and 16, the continent’s heads of state will vote for Moussa Faki Mahamat’s successor.
On February 12 and 13, ministers of Foreign Affairs will gather for the 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council.
Raila has stepped up his campaign recently, holding meetings with various presidents from different regions of Africa. During a state visit to Egypt, where he met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the opposition veteran joined President William Ruto last week.
The ex-premier characterized the meeting on X as “a momentous diplomatic engagement,” during Raila’s trip to North Africa at the end of last month. Before meeting with East African heads of state at the African Energy Summit in Arusha, he campaigned in Tunisia, Algeria, and Mauritania.
While in Egypt, Raila sought to position himself as a Pan-Africanist, emulating the legacy of founding figures such as President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Also competing with Raila, Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Youssouf met the Egyptian president, with the Horn of Africa nation asserting it had obtained support from Cairo.
Raila is up against Youssouf and Richard Randriamandrato, who previously served as Madagascar’s Foreign Minister. To win in the first round, he must obtain at least two-thirds of the votes from the 49 AU member states.
Up to this point, he can rely on the backing of East African Community nations, who united in support of the former premier when he initiated his campaign at Nairobi’s State House in August.
Elkanah Odembo, who co-chairs Raila’s secretariat with Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei and is a former Kenyan ambassador to the U.S., stated that they estimate Raila’s campaign has garnered backing from “at least 28 of the 49 nations.”
Raila only needs to win over five more nations to secure a first-round victory, if the estimates are accurate. According to Odembo, the campaign was “going well.”
„Er ist in unterschiedlichen Hauptstädten von Tür zu Tür gegangen und hat es an den meisten Orten geschafft, sich mit dem Staatsoberhaupt zu treffen. Odembo remarked on his impressive energy level and disclosed that the campaign would now implement a three-pronged strategy as the race nears its conclusion.
Ruto and Raila will visit more heads of state, while Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is expected to increase his interactions with Foreign Affairs ministers.
Ghana and Seychelles are among the other countries that have announced their backing for Raila.
The campaign secretariat of the former premier is assured about their triumph, with an unnamed source claiming off the record that the former premier will win “resoundingly.”
Nelson Koech, MP for Belgut and chair of the National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, stated that Raila’s victory “comes with tremendous benefits across social, political, and economic diplomatic spheres, not only to Kenya but to the East African Community.”
