Former United Nations Conference on Trade Development secretary-general Mukhisa Kituyi has absolved former Prime Minister Raila Odinga from blame following his loss at the African Union Commission elections.
Pointing out that he was not particularly surprised by the outcome, Kituyi said the loss had nothing to do with Raila’s campaign as an individual.
He said several reasons were responsible for the loss in the elections, which saw Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Youssouf elected chairperson of AUC after securing 33 votes in the seventh round of voting
Raila faced Youssouf and Madagascar’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Richard Randriamandrato in the elections.
In an interview with Citizen TV, Kituyi said Raila’s loss was partly a consequence of structural injustice of the voting patterns at the African Union.
“To say Raila faltered is to assume he could have done something about it. I think he went the extra mile but the structural challenges in the electoral process played against him. A number of things did not work in his favour,” he said.
Kituyi added that when the only non-francophone candidate won the elections, there was virtual unity across Anglophone Africa. He however said the candidate was perceived to have performed badly during the term.
Kituyi added that the move by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to declare solidarity with the candidate from Madagascar handed Raila’s prospects a blow.
He further pointed out that the francophone (French speaking) made promises to Raila which they did not keep.
“The francophone bloc even after they made promises verbally they would d support Raila, did what we expected them to do, that is to stick with their own,” he said.
Kituyi nonetheless insisted that Raila is appealing to African nations.
“You should not downplay him. In matters of appealing to Africa, Raila is larger than President William Ruto. Do not think that Ruto was winning support for Raila,” he added.
With 49 heads of state partaking in the vote, the winner needed two-thirds of the total votes, totalling 33.
