Following his loss in the African Union Commission (AUC) election, Raila Odinga, the former prime minister of Kenya, has posited that Kenya should rethink its membership in the African Union (AU).
The elections, which took place as part of the 38th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, saw Djibouti’s Foreign Minister, Maxamuud Cali Yuusuf, win with 33 votes, thereby attaining the required two-thirds majority (2/3) of the 49 head of states present.
Odinga’s defeat has elicited reactions that have led to a debate about the kind of player Kenya wants to be in the AU, with members of Parliament such as Peter Kaluma and Samuel Atandi calling for Kenya to amend its monetary contribution and continue its membership. Kaluma suggested that Kenya should think about quitting both the AU and the East African Community (EAC).
Meanwhile, Senator Ledama Olekina noted that President William Ruto fully supported Odinga’s candidacy, and he called for counterarguments to the existing composition of the AU, even recycling into the debate the question “Why not divide the African Union into two?”
The AUC chairperson is elected purely by the member states, with the leadership post rotating through the five regions of Africa. On this occasion, the East African region nominated the chairperson while North Africa selected the deputy chairperson.