It has now come to light that the former president Uhuru Kenyatta was eyeing the African Union Commission’s Chairman position that his political ally Raila Odinga recently declared his interest in.
Talking to a local daily, David Murathe, Jubilee Party vice chairman and a close ally of the former head of state revealed that Uhuru had already embarked on a continental lobbying campaign for the AUC position.
Murathe claims that Uhuru had already secured support from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania to go for the post.
The news of Raila’s public announcement of his bid didn’t come as a surprise as he had met Uhuru a week before and ironed out the differences. Uhuru’s ambitions were further deflated by the fact that Ruto’s government was not going to give him the much needed state backing. The setback made him endorse Raila.
Murathe said Uhuru had vowed to him that he would support Raila because he was a Kenyan and an ally and that victory for the Azimio leader would be a triumph for the country.
He said it was not true that Uhuru supported former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete for the AUC job against Raila and termed those allegations acts of political detractors.
The Uhuru ally said in their conversation, Raila insinuated that he still could have a stab at the Presidency in 2027 even after winning the AUC job, a matter he said he disagreed with him.
“I told him that he needed to endorse someone else because it was not possible to run in 2027 if he won the AUC job which was a four-year term that would end in March 2027. He seemed to believe that he could still contest,” said Murathe.
ODM leader Raila Odinga and former Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo
The revelations of Murathe comes at a time when speculations have been rife that the former head of state is sabotaging Raila’s bid and was secretly backing Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete for the position.
During his presentation in recently in Addis Ababa, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi gave the clearest indication that the state is solidly behind Raila in his bid.
Mudavadi maintained that it is now time for Eastern Africa to produce the next AU head as other regions of the continent have had their stint at the helm since 2002.
“The Central, Southern and Western Africa regions have had their share since 2002, so it is now time for the Eastern and Northern Africa regions. Under the rotational rules, Eastern Africa has the first opportunity when the term of the current chair expires end of this year,” Mudavadi stated.
President William Ruto’s administration has assembled a committee to campaign for Azimio la Umoja party leader Raila Odinga’s bid for the African Union (AU) commission chairperson role.
Media reports indicate that the committee, made of high-ranking officials who wield influence and able to rally the continent behind Odinga will also be expanded to include officials from the opposition.
Reports further indicate that prior to Odinga making the announcement public, president William Ruto lobbied various African countries to support Odinga, paving the way for the announcement earlier this week.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram