Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has responded questions around the size of the Kenyan government delegation in Addis Ababa ahead of the African Union Commission (AUC) elections.
Mudavadi cited that the government was “conscious of the economic situation,” and therefore “for all intents and purposes our delegation is not extraordinary.”
“President Ruto and I am the Minister for Foreign Affairs. And we have officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who anchor this process and we have a mission here… we have a lean delegation coming here.”
“The Kenyans who are coming here. The ones who are being highlighted by yourselves, is people who are coming out of their volition. It’s not an expenditure from the government of Kenya. These are people who have decided because of their patriotism to come here to have an opportunity to give moral support to the candidature of Raila Amolo Odinga,” he added.
Odinga will be battling Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato (65) and Djibouti’s Mohamoud Youssouf (60).
The successful candidate will succeed Chad’s Moussa Faki who will exit after his two-term tenure which started in 2017..
A winner will be declared when a two-thirds majority of Heads of State from the AU member states vote in their favour.
Raila stated,”I will go for the AU elections on Saturday. If I win, well and good. If I don’t, so be it. I am confident that, with God’s will, we shall succeed. If we win, we have succeeded. If we lose, we have also succeeded,” Odinga said, striking a measured yet determined tone.
“It is the final stretch for Raila Odinga’s African Union chairmanship bid as heads of state from across the continent prepare to cast their votes on Saturday,” he added.
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