Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga has received a shot in the arm after the African Union (AU) Executive Council dropped two key proposals that would have locked out its candidate for the Commission (AUC) chairperson seat.
According to Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, the continental bloc will no longer demand that the next AUC chair be a woman.
They also agreed that the next chair be from eastern Africa although the region will have autonomy to agree on who runs.
A dispatch from Mudavadi’s office said the council “unanimously” asserted the right of the Eastern Africa region to produce the next chairperson of the African Union Commission.
“This is a major breakthrough for the Eastern Africa region to present candidates for the position of chairperson of the AUC,” said Mudavadi in a dispatch on Friday.
The council’s decision will now have to be approved by the Assembly, comprised of the heads of State and government of the 55-member bloc. It is only after the Assembly approves that it will become official regulation at the AU.
