Kenya’s candidate for African Union Commission chairperson, Raila Odinga, will tonight face his main opponents in a live debate to be televised across the continent.
The Africa Leadership Debate, or Mjadala Afrika Leadership Debate, will start from 7pm to 9pm East African Time.
Raila will debate Mahmoud Ali Youssouf (Djibouti) and Richard Randriamandrato (Madagascar).
The debate provides candidates an opportunity to outline their vision of how they would lead the transformation of Africa.
The engagement to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will be televised in all six official working languages of the AU: English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili.
Moderators will then collate questions from the public and relay the same to the candidates.
WHERE TO WATCH
The Star will also avail a live link for the debate, and the same will also be available on the national channels of respective countries.
To watch the debate on the-star.co.ke website, click here.
You can also catch the debate livestreamed on the African Union's website, Youtube, X, Facebook and instagram platforms.
The debate will also be available in Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili which are the official languages of the African Union.
The first Mjadala was held in 2016, where five candidates debated each other.
For the former premier to clinch the position, he needs two-thirds of the 55 countries that will vote but issues of geopolitics, language, and religion by the member states will play a key role in who wins.
However, six members have been suspended because of either war or hostile takeovers in government. These are Sudan, Gabon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea. This means Raila needs at least 33 votes to succeed Faki.
