The government on Monday moved quickly to keep former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's campaign for the chairmanship of the African Union Commission (AUC) on track, after missing its own deadline to submit the country's candidature for the post by June 30.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'oei chaired the first technical committee comprising the government and Odinga's teams.
"The Committee reviewed the progress made towards submission of the formal application, the official launch of candidature and the outreach programme," Dr Sing’oei said Monday.
Odinga's camp had formed its strategy team comprising Kenya's former ambassador to the US Elkanah Odembo; Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) former executive secretary Mahboub Maalim; Ambassador Anthony Okara; Prof Makau Mutua; and Nyeri’s former deputy governor Caroline Karugu.
"The government is firm in support of this bid," he said.
During a joint briefing with Odinga early last month, Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi announced that Kenya would submit its candidate for the position by June 30.
Reliable sources close to the campaigns confided in the Nation that it was not feasible to submit Odinga's nomination by the end of June as "there is still no consensus on what to submit".
The Commission had set strict conditions and a deadline of August 6 for the submission of candidatures for the post.
In a communiqué issued by the Office of the Legal Council last month, the Commission 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 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 communique stated.
This means that Odinga and the other candidates from eastern Africa, including Djibouti's Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Youssouf, Seychelles' former Vice President Vincent Meriton and Somalia's former Foreign Minister Fawzia Yusuf, will submit their CVs and vision statements in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Kiswahili.
Harmonise the application
The Nation understands that the presidency, Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and the candidate (Odinga) are yet to meet to harmonise the application before it is submitted.
When contacted for comment, Odembo, one of Odinga's campaign strategists, confirmed that the submission of the candidacy is likely to be delayed until mid-July.
“We have a bit more work to do. We must convene a meeting of the teams (Presidency, MFA and candidate) to ensure alignment and consensus on what is to be submitted. So most likely we shall submit by mid-July,” he told the Nation.
While Odinga’s camp had formulated its strategy, the government side was yet to name its team to facilitate a joint working plan.
“We also don’t have a secretariat in place and a budget to facilitate the campaigns is also yet to be confirmed,” another source revealed.
In Kenya's previous failed bid for the AUC chairmanship, the country spent Sh437.7 million on the campaign led by then Deputy President William Ruto, now the head of state.
Data tabled in Parliament at the time showed that this expenditure exceeded the set confidential expenditure by Sh52 million. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had budgeted Sh385.6 million for expenditure related to campaigns for then Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed's bid for the post in 2017.
"This difference relates to the AUC campaigns conducted by the Deputy President and were initially charged under the AUC campaign funds, but were later transferred to State Visits expenditure," Macharia Kamau, the then Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, told parliament.
Mohamed lost her bid to become the continent's top diplomat to her Chadian counterpart, Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Odinga, who is set to fly the Kenyan flag, previously served as the AU’s High Representative for Infrastructure Development.
