Former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Mukhisa Kituyi has dimmed former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s hope of clinching the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairmanship.
This is after he poked holes in Raila’s campaign strategy, saying it won’t help him.
Bankrolled by the Kenyan government, the veteran opposition politician has been traversing Africa to court support from African heads of state.
Raila needs support either by consensus or at least a two-thirds majority vote by the AU member states represented by their heads.
Assessing the race, Kituyi observed that the Francophone bloc would create a bulwark against Raila’s bid.
He said the Djibouti candidate, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, will capitalize on the French-speaking and Islamic countries to get the seat.
Kituyi further observed that Raila’s continent-wide overtures are deficient in strategy and thus would not deliver him the win in the vote scheduled for February 2025.
There are other external factors that the Kenyan candidate’s campaign secretariat has not explored, thus the loophole for the loss.
“I don’t know if it is campaigning that gets you that seat. There are certain things that are strategically very important in consideration. The Israeli-Gaza genocide is one of them.”
“I have worked at the highest level in international diplomacy; I have sat in fora where major elective and appointment decisions are made. One thing I know for sure is that Francophone Africa will always vote as a bloc on any issues concerning Africa,” he said.
According to Kituyi, the French-speaking and Islamic countries will always marshal support amongst themselves for the benefit of one of their natives.
“You have two candidates for a position to represent Africa, if one is from Francophone and the other is not, the Francophone candidate starts with 29 votes. If you have Djibouti and Kenyan candidates, the Djibouti one starts with 29 votes, then add those from Islamic countries, and SADC issues a statement that its countries are supporting Djibouti, where are you going to start campaigning for Raila?” Kituyi posed.
