The race for the Africa Union Commission chairmanship will take a dramatic turn next month as former Prime Minister Raila Odinga plans to tour Djibouti, the home country of his main rival Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.
The Star has established that Raila will be in Djibouti for a meeting with President Ismail Guelleh. The Djibouti candidate is seen as Raila’s biggest challenger.
Kenya is keen to secure enough support for its candidate amid strong opposition from Youssouf ahead of next year’s polls.
Youssouf was also in Nairobi in August this year. Co-chair of Raila’s campaigns campaign Secretariat Elkanah Odembo confirmed the Djibouti diplomatic offensive, describing it as necessary.
“We are contemplating Djibouti as well. It is important that we develop goodwill with Djibouti,” he told the Star on Friday.
This is part of Raila’s packed campaign itinerary that will also see him visit Eritrea, Chad and Central Africa Republic in December.
Raila had in the last 10 days pitched camp in West Africa where he made his case to a number of French-speaking countries.
The former PM landed in Nairobi on Friday having campaigned in Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’voire Senegal and Gambia, Odembo said.
Raila will be heading to the western part of the Arab World (Maghreb region). The region has five countries in the northern part of Africa – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.
“With Ecowas region done, our next stop is Maghreb with possible visits to Eritrea, Chad and CAR,” Ogembo said.
On December 13, Raila will be attending the Mjadala in Ethiopia – Public debate for all AUC candidates which is a televised debate broadcast live throughout Africa.
“Candidate RAO is preparing and we are confident that Africa will see that he really does stand head and shoulders over the competitors,” Odembo said.
The Africa Leadership Debate, or Mjadala Afrika, provides candidates an opportunity to outline their vision of how they would lead the transformation of Africa.
The debate allows citizens and partners to ask the candidates questions.
According to Raila’s campaign schedule, the Kenya candidate has dedicated his January to an extensive tour of the Southern African Development Community boasting of 16 member states Members of SADC include Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In the past 10 days, Raila has been traversing West Africa in a campaign blitz during which he received a major boost after Mauritius – which also has a candidate in the race – agreed to back his bid.
With the Mauritius candidate Anil Gayan now out of the race, Raila will be battling with two other candidates – Youssouf (Djibouti) and Richard Randriamandrato (Madagascar).
The announcement was made by President William Ruto after a telephone conversation with newly-elected Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam.
“I have had a telephone conversation with the newly-elected Prime Minister of Mauritius, Hon Navinchandra Ramgoolam. I congratulated him on his election and for the faith the people of his country have shown in him and his party,” Ruto said on X.
“We affirmed the strong and cordial diplomatic ties between our two countries and people and committed ourselves to deepening the relations. Prime Minister Ramgloolam confirmed his support for Kenya’s candidate to the African Union Commission chairperson, Raila Odinga.”
Raila also received a boost on Saturday after former Seychelles Vice President Vincent Meriton who had declared interest for the seat in May threw his support behind him.
“Today, I want to lend my support
to Raila Odinga,” he said.
