Kenya’s Amina beaten to top AU post by Chadian rival

Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed. PHOTO | FILE 

By LYNET IGADWAH, ligadwah@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Kenya had put up a well-funded campaign for the 56-year-old Amina Mohamed, including a spirited shuttle diplomacy that saw President Uhuru Kenyatta and the deputy President, William Ruto, visit a number of African countries to lobby support for her.
• Kenya had argued that Ms Mohamed was the best candidate to chair the AU commission, as the organisation would benefit from her wealth of experience in international affairs.
• Analysts saw Ms Mohamed’s loss as a major blow to Mr Kenyatta’s administration which had banked on a win to push its pan-African agenda.

The African Union on Monday elected Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat to succeed South Africa’s Nkosazan Dlamini-Zuma as new chairman of the African Union Commission, dealing a blow to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s aggressive shuttle diplomacy to have Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed ascend to the post.

Mr Mahamat, who is Chad’s Foreign Affairs minister, garnered 38 votes during the seventh round of voting held after the preceding ones failed to produce a winner.

A candidate needs to garner two thirds of total votes (about 34) to win the contest.

Ms Mohamed posed the stiffest challenge to Mr Mahamat — exchanging the top position with him till the sixth round when she lost to the Chadian.

Kenya had put up a well-funded campaign for the 56-year-old Ms Mohamed, including a spirited shuttle diplomacy that saw Mr Kenyatta and the deputy President, William Ruto, visit a number of African countries to lobby support for her.

Kenya’s rigorous lobbying and aggressive pan-Africanism agenda gained momentum with the collapse of International and Criminal Court (ICC) cases against Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto partly because attributed to Ms Mohamed’s skillful diplomatic manoeuvres.

Kenya had argued that Ms Mohamed was the best candidate to chair the AU commission, as the organisation would benefit from her wealth of experience in international affairs.

Analysts saw Ms Mohamed’s loss as a major blow to Mr Kenyatta’s administration which had banked on a win to push its pan-African agenda.

State House was quick to climb down from the high octane campaign it had wedged in favour of Ms Mohamed – sending a congratulatory message to the winner and promising to work with him.

“Kenya congratulates Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad on a race well won. We pledge to work with him to defend the pan-African agenda of integration, as well as democracy, sovereignty and prosperity for all of its people,” State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said in statement.

He noted that Ms Mohamed had run a valiant race, “and her candidacy marked the re-emergence of Kenya at the very heart of the pan-African project”.

Ms Mohamed’s failure to clinch the top AU seat also frustrates efforts to place Kenya on the global map and shore up Nairobi’s ability to attract foreign investment.

READ: Uhuru lobbies for Kenya candidate as AU Commission chair

It was, however, clear from public opinion expressed on social media that a sizeable number of Kenyans had reservations about Ms Mohamed’s candidature, dismissing it even before the final tally of the votes.

Some Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) had predicted Ms Mohamed’s fall, citing failures in her docket as Foreign Affairs secretary. The minister had come under heavy criticism for remaining tight-lipped over the suffering of Kenyan detainees in Ethiopia even as she offered her sympathies for the misfortune of citizens of other countries.

“I was deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the heinous act of shooting of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov,” Ms Mohamed said in a tweet of December 21, 2016 that invited heavy criticism.

Analysts also criticised Ms Mohamed’s AU candidature, insisting it was a strategy by President Kenyatta to grow his clout and influence across Africa in an attempt to push his personal interests, including the call for mass withdrawal from the ICC.

The other three contenders for the top AU post were Adeboye Bathily of Senegal, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi of Botswana and Mba Mokuy of Equatorial Guinea.

Ms Dlamini-Zuma who retires after a four-year tenure that ended last June.

Her tenure was extended by six months to give potential candidates for the position time to canvass for votes.

Ms Mohamed submitted her name for the AU post in October last year. A team made up of five Cabinet secretaries was charged with the responsibility of lobbying for her bid.

The Cabinet sub-committee chaired by Education secretary Fred Matiang’i toured 51 African countries seeking support for Ms Mohamed and only concluded its work last week with visits to Guinea Bissau and Benin.

In December last year Ms Mohamed, a career diplomat, said Kenya supports Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic’s quest for self-rule and its membership of the AU, a statement that did not go down well with Morocco and other Arab states.

Her support for Saharawi might have had a negative impact on her bid for AU Commission chairperson.