Why Raila must be handed top AUC saddle

It was in March last year when I last pronounced myself on this subject.
Just like last year, my position has not changed. I still maintain that former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga is the candidate best suited to take over the from Chad’s Mahmat Faki as the chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) when that seat comes up for grabs this month.
Mr Odinga means many things to many people. But one that no one disputes is that he is a good fighter. A seasoned, resilient and consistent fighter. So much water has passed under the bridge since the larger-than-life Kenyan Opposition leader declared his candidacy in February last year accompanied by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. The election for the next AUC chairperson comes in the wake of both headless and heartless conflicts on the African continent, the latest one being the raging warfare in the North Kivu Province of the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Before, during and after declaration of his candidature, Odinga has publicly made his stand known on most issues that have gripped the continent since its transition to self-rule on the early and mid 1960s. When he made the announcement to bid for the coveted seat, Odinga touched on matters that he felt needed to be urgently addressed.
Odinga spoke about the dehumanising way in which African migrants die in the Mediterranean Sea in their ill-fated bid to cross over to Europe aboard overloaded rickety boats. President William Ruto, his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta and Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Kaguta Museveni are the most notable Statesmen to vigorously talk about this, and other pressing continental issues.
Early this week, Kenyatta raised the issue of the raging conflicts on the continent in countries such as DRC and Sudan. An enraged Kenyatta wondered why African leadership spend so much money on buying guns and bullets to kill and maim their own citizens instead of investing those funds in life-sustaining sectors like healthcare and agriculture, which can enable them avoid depending on handouts from the Western world.
When he still served in office, Kenyatta was unequivocal on the subject. At the 42nd Organisation of African Trade Union Unity in Nairobi in September 2019 Mr Kenyatta remarked: “It is disheartening to see our sons and daughters lose their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea, being humiliated in foreign lands because we cannot get together and grow our own prosperity and provide employment, a future and hope for them.”
This sour state of affairs in the African continent leaves me to look with optimism on the prospect of Odinga becoming the AUC chair.
The former premier is a proven Pan-Africanist. He is a battle-hardened soldier in defence of democracy and human rights and has demonstrated unwavering positive courage. That positive courage is what Africa needs at the moment. Positive courage has been missing among Africa’s political class for far too long. Where courage has existed, it has been for wrong intentions and outcomes such as liquidating political rivals, messengers of democracy, free speech and the plunder of national resources as well as fanning internecine, ethnic, racial and religious strife.
During a virtual East African Community (EAC) summit convened by its chairman President Ruto on Thursday this week, Rwandan President Paul Kagame expressed his frustrations regarding the raging bloody warfare in eastern DRC where a rebel group calling itself M23 has taken over Goma.
Kagame wondered why entities like EAC, South African Development Co-operation (SADC), African Union and the United Nations sit on the fence whenever conflicts start brewing up, only to emerge when they have escalated.
An enraged Kagame
The frustrations expressed by Kagame are there for all to see. Yet, there appears to be no solution in sight. Which brings me back to Mr Odinga. In spite of all his acts of commission and omission, I have confidence in him. Over the years, Odinga has demonstrated that for a just cause, he can boldly confront an issue, which others are reluctant to deliberate on.
As of now, the African continent needs urgent reforms. My hunch is that Odinga’s elevation to the AUC saddle in Addis Ababa is what the continent needs to elicit reforms in Africa. He himself has time and again expressed his desire to engage the rest of Africa on matters of Pan-Africanism, trade, culture and free movement of people and goods.
Coups, ethnic cleansing, political violence, stealing of elections and post-election disputes and wars, famine and starvation, dictatorship, corruption and diseases are what form the images that have defined Africa for the past 60 years. It is a shame that though most of the African countries attained independence more than half a century ago, the continent has by now not devised its own course politically and economically. Africa’s leaders still fly to Western capitals — sometimes upon summoning — with begging bowls to seek food and economic aid for their populace.
That notwithstanding, each year, thousands of African migrants — an estimated 30,000 of them teenagers — troop northwards through the harsh conditions of the Sahel and Sahara desert with dreams of reaching Europe where they hope to experience a better life. It never comes to be. Most of them drown in canoes in their bid to cross the Mediterranean.
Annoyingly, every year, African Heads of States and governments converge under the AU auspices in Addis Ababa to deliberate Africa’s challenges and achievements. Though, strangely, the issue of illegal migration and repression from the affected countries do not feature. What features at the AU summit is exactly what Kagame was describing on Thursday as “talking nice things to each other” without providing any solutions to the problems at hand. The real challenges facing Africa are left for Western powers to deliberate and find solutions. It is time for Africa to stand up to its challenges. African leaders are so obligated. Yes, African leaders must change the AU from a mere talk-shop into a reliable assembly of committed men and women who plan and lay stronger foundations for the future of their continent.
Young military leaders in the Western and Sahel parts of Africa have become so popular around the continent. Though most of them toppled democratically-elected governments, their increasing popularity springs from the obvious fact that they are attempting to confront the hurdles that have stood in the way of their countries’ development since independence.
That should sound as a warning to all African leaders. Though coups are unpopular. The conduct of the new military in the Sahel and West Africa are now making them popular. Elected leaders who do not address development or concentrate on plundering the resources of their countries and killing of their own citizens are on the other hand increasingly becoming unpopular. There is every reason for African to change. And do so in time. Good time.
That is why Odinga’s candidature for AUC chairmanship ought to be encouraged by all. He deserves our support, be it in Kenya or across the continent. My expectation is that Odinga will see to it that Africa is no longer an object of ridicule and negative profiling. That is why I want him in Addis Ababa.
For very wrong reasons, there are some jilted or jolted Kenyan political leaders and their followers who want the Odinga AUC bid to flop. Purely for selfish gains, they want him not to make it so that he can retain the position of Opposition leader and mobilise Kenyans against the current administration.
Fighting injustice should not be made a preserve of Odinga. In the first place, that is the mistake we all made. After the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, we all went took a siesta and thought that all was well and if there was any problem, we expected that to be Odinga’s sole responsibility. We failed Kenya.
Odinga is not immortal. He is one of us. He has done his bit. Alongside many others. We, too, must do our best. We all must fight for a better Kenya and a better future without having to rely on one individual to fight for us. I wish Mr Odinga the best in the Ethiopian capital.
—The writer is the Revise Editor, People Daily —[email protected]