All systems go for Raila AUC contest as gender rule set to be dropped
Azimio leader Raila Odinga during a press briefing and presentation of the National Dialogue Committee report at Capital Hill Nairobi on March 8, 2024.
What you need to know:
- The Council’s decision will now have to be approved by the Assembly, comprised of the heads of state and government of the 55-member bloc. It is only after the Assembly approves that it will become official regulation at the AU.
Kenya’s bid to front one of its own for the next African Union Commission Chairperson’s seat has got easier, after the continental body’s Council of Ministers dropped two key proposals.
According to Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, the continental bloc will no longer demand that the next African Union Chairperson be a woman. They also agreed that the next Chairperson be from Eastern Africa although the region will have autonomy to agree on who runs. Mr Mudavadi is also Kenya’s Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Cabinet Secretary.
A dispatch from Mudavadi’s office said the Council “unanimously” asserted the right of the Eastern Africa region to produce the next Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
“This is a major breakthrough for the Eastern Africa region to present candidates for the position of Chairperson of the AUC,” said Mudavadi in a dispatch on Friday.
The Council’s decision will now have to be approved by the Assembly, comprised of the heads of state and government of the 55-member bloc. It is only after the Assembly approves that it will become official regulation at the AU.
The rule drop could give a sigh of relief to Mr Odinga who could be locked out of the race had they been adopted.
Kenya said it lobbied members. However, sources told the Nation Nairobi profited from the general disagreement on whether rotation and gender parity should be tied on a rule.
Since 2021, the African Union had agreed on ensuring the Deputy and Chairperson of the Commission were from opposite gender. But they had never agreed on alternating genders for the post of Chairperson. They did agree, in 2018, that regions must rotate their hold on the Chairperson in their English alphabetical order: Central, Eastern, Northern, Western, Southern.
The current Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamt is from Chad in Central Africa and is deputised by Monique Nsanzabaganwa of Rwanda in Eastern bloc.
“It is now clear that the Rt-Hon Raila Odinga will be in the race for the AU Commission Chairperson,” he said. “Effectively, there are no more technical or legal hurdles preventing Kenya from submitting its candidate.”
Read: President Kagame endorses Raila Odinga's bid for AU job
The decision means only Northern Africa region will front candidates for the Deputy Chairperson while the other three regions, Central, Southern and Western, will compete for the six positions of commissioners.
