‘Kenya made a mistake in fielding Raila as AUC candidate’ – PLO Lumumba
Constitutional lawyer PLO Lumumba has criticized Kenya’s decision to field Raila Odinga as its candidate for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson position.
Speaking on a local media station on February 17, 2025, in the wake of Raila’s loss to Djibouti’s Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Lumumba termed Kenya’s decision a strategic misstep.
“I think that we made a mistake and the mistake that was made was that we fielded a candidate who was not the best candidate,” Lumumba said.
He argued that age was a significant factor that worked against Raila, emphasizing that the AUC chairperson role, akin to a CEO position, demands responsibilities he deemed unsuitable for an 80-year-old candidate.
“When you are eighty years of age, you don’t seek an office of that kind. This is a CEO’s office which entails a lot of travel, sitting in meetings, fundraising and all. At 80, you ought to retire. You must know when to leave the office,” Lumumba said.
The renowned lawyer also suggested that President William Ruto’s support for Raila’s candidacy may have been politically motivated.
“The President of Kenya, William Ruto saw this as an opportunity effectively to exile Raila Odinga. Exile him so that he could inherit his political constituency,” Lumumba stated.
He noted that Raila’s nomination had temporarily altered political dynamics, particularly among Raila’s core supporters.
“Raila’s primary constituents, the Luo, went gaga when he was nominated; Ruto suddenly became a saint, a canon who could do no wrong and the net effect is that you made Raila run around the continent and spend billions of shillings and this is what has ended up,” he observed.
Lumumba also took issue with Kenya’s diplomatic approach during the campaign, particularly criticizing the size of the delegation sent to Addis Ababa.
“You sent large delegations of people who are doing nothing meaningful cantankerous to the hilt. And the net effect is evident in the outcome we have witnessed. I think we as a country must re-examine ourselves,” he said.
While calling for accountability, Lumumba suggested that if he were president, he would fire Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi because of the failures in the AUC elections.
“If I was the president of Kenya my first act would be to remove my Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and everybody who was involved because the diplomatic missteps that were being committed at all levels during the runup to this election is without comparison,” he added.
Voting breakdown
In the election held on February 15, 2025, Raila lost to Djibouti’s Mahmoud Ali Youssouf after a lengthy voting process that spanned seven rounds.
In the first round of voting, Raila led with 20 votes, closely followed by Mahmoud Ali Youssouf with 18 votes. Madagascar’s candidate received 10 votes, while one member state abstained.
In the second round, Raila garnered 22 votes, with Youssouf receiving 19 votes and Madagascar’s support dwindling to 7 votes.
By the third round, Youssouf took the lead for the first time, securing 23 votes against Raila’s 20, while Madagascar’s candidate fell to just five votes and was subsequently eliminated.
This narrowed the competition down to a two-horse race between Djibouti and Kenya.
In the fourth round, Youssouf extended his lead with 25 votes to Raila’s 21, with two abstentions and two spoiled ballots.
The gap widened further in the fifth round, with Youssouf earning 26 votes compared to Raila’s 22, while one state abstained.
In the seventh and final round, Youssouf clinched victory by securing 33 votes, the majority needed for the AUC chairmanship.
