I’ve supported many but Raila was a fantastic AUC candidate – Ruto

President William Ruto has described former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's candidature in the recently concluded African Union Commission elections as a fantastic one.

Speaking in Mombasa, Ruto said that while he has previously supported other candidates in elections, Raila's bid was the greatest of all. 

The President said the former PM did all that was needed of him and was always available whenever he needed to show up.

Ruto noted that he was proud to receive Raila and his team back after months on the campaign trail and that he looks forward to engaging him in developing the country, going forward.

“I have supported many people in the past, but we had a fantastic candidate. He was present and did what needed to be done. Raila was available for all his appointments to different countries and to canvas his candidature.

“It is a proud moment for us to receive you back home and to engage with you as we drive the development of our country, engage in nation-building and broaden and widen our engagement towards achieving equity, prosperity and transformation,” he said.

The Head of State added that Raila’s candidature united the country with people from all sides of the political divide supporting him.

“His candidature brought all Kenyans together from the different political sides. We were united behind the candidature of Raila for AUC and this morning we take the opportunity to thank everyone who made a contribution, big and small by the candidature that was put forward.”

Ruto also thanked other leaders from across the continent, those who supported Raila and those who did not for ensuring there was no stalemate in the end.

“I want to thank my colleagues and the support that they extended to Kenya. I thank them that when it became necessary that we have a decision not to end up at stalemate, they made the decision whoever won, we remain as a united continent,” he said.

In his remarks, Raila described the election as an eye-opener.

He said through the process, he was able to understand the African continent better than he did.

He said through the AUC election, he met over 40 leaders from across the continent and engaged on various key issues affecting Africa.

“This was an enterprise that was an eye-opener. It gave us an opportunity to understand our continent better. We now know the challenges that face our continent, I had an opportunity to meet over 40 presidents in their own capitals,” the former Prime Minister said.

Raila described his loss as a win because he will now have time to do other things in the country.

He lost the election to Djibouti’s Ali Mohammed Youssouf.