President William Ruto (second left) hold talks with President Hakainde Hichilema (left) of Zambia, Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (second right) and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi on the sidelines of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing.
President William Ruto has written to all African Heads of State on Kenya’s bid for the chairmanship of the African Union Commission (AUC).
In an exclusive interview with Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Korir Sing’oei yesterday, he disclosed that President Ruto reached out to his colleagues across the continent as part of the campaigns for Kenya’s candidate Raila Odinga.
“When we came back from New York, the president signed letters to all Heads of State on the continent presenting the candidature of Mr Odinga, thanking a number of them who have already indicated their support and urging the rest to come through,” Dr Sing’oei, who is also the head of Mr Odinga’s campaign secretariat, said.
The PS revealed that Kenya was exploring all avenues for victory, noting that they were also engaging in the possibility of fielding a single candidate in the spirit of African “solidarity and oneness.”
“That is also an engagement because, in the spirit of African solidarity and oneness, there is a lot of consultation happening at the political level so that we can cohere around possibly a single candidate,” Dr Sing’oei told Nation.
Mr Odinga is facing Djibouti’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmoud Youssouf, former Mauritius Foreign Minister Anil Kumarsingh Gayan, and his former Madagascar counterpart Richard James Randriamandrato.
Dr Sing’oei said their projections indicate that Mr Odinga remains ahead of the pack.
“I will address this issue among others on our campaigns at the end of the week. I can say that we are not yet there but are way above 60 percent,” he said.
The PS pointed out that he will give a detailed report regarding Kenya’s campaigns, noting that the secretariat as well as the candidate had stepped up the vote hunt in the region.
“The candidate was in DRC just a few weeks ago, he was in Tanzania and several other countries, and this month he will travel the most.
“I will be able to provide the update at the end of the week,” he said.
He said President Ruto and Mr Odinga have had one-on-one interactions with various Heads of State including during the recent United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in Network, United States.
“Raila Odinga and the president had a meeting with several Heads of State in New York. The notable ones are Senegal and South Africa and we have very positive views from those two countries.
“There was also an important development which you might have noted and which we are part of, the decision by French president Emmanuel Macron and Ruto to hold the next Franco-Africa summit in Nairobi.”
Dr Sing’oei noted that the decision presents the reality that the division between Anglophone and Francophone is neither here nor there.
“What has always been touted as an advantage for the Djiboutian candidate, for example, is not an advantage because the countries make decisions based on strategic interests.
“Kenya is working with several Francophone countries as well as France itself with whom we have an excellent relationship,” said the PS.
Dr Sing’oei pointed out that during the UNGA summit, he hosted Principal and Permanent Secretaries from the East African Community countries which resolved to support Kenya’s campaigns.
“We invited them to constitute themselves as a committee of candidatures under the EAC framework because that committee exists and we invited them to take a decision on the candidature of Hon Odinga and to resolve to support his candidature and campaigns.
“All the countries present supported it except for Somalia which supported the consensus but indicated that they had made a prior commitment to Djibouti before Hon Odinga declared his candidature,” said Dr Sing’oei.
He noted that Mr Odinga’s candidacy came way later, by which time the Djiboutian candidate had already declared his candidature.
“So, Somalia submitted to the committee that they were constrained by that commitment but that however, they supported fully the consensus of the region to support Hon Odinga’s candidature.
“That for us is a very important development and we are escalating the report to the committee of the council of ministers for further advice and adoption,” added the PS.
He disclosed that out of the eight EAC member States consisting of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republics of Burundi, Rwanda, and South Sudan, seven, save for Somalia, backed Kenya’s bid.
“Our focus now is to prepare for the Mjadala Africa debate which will come very soon, we are waiting for the date from AUC and essentially to continue with the campaigns.
“By the end of this week, I’ll make a major statement on where things currently stand.”
He went on: “Even though as you know the process of campaigning at this level is very unique as it happens at the diplomatic level and so we continue to ensure we manage information so that nobody misunderstands what we are doing and the approach we are pursuing because countries are very sensitive about these issues.”
