Blow for Kenya as CS Amina Mohammed fails to clinch AUC chair

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohammed has failed to clinch AUC chairperson seat after she was defeated by Chad’s Moussa Mahamat.

Mr Mahamat beat CS Amina by 12 votes after garnering 38 votes against Amina’s 26 following seven rounds of voting in Addis Ababa on Monday.

This comes after months of lobbying and shuttle diplomacy by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto that saw them visit many African member states to push for her election to the top seat of the African Union Commission.

President Kenyatta on Saturday, January 28 morning traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the 28th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly where he participated in the AUC election on Monday.

Amina, however, beat Senegal’s Dr Abdoulauye Bathily, Equatorial Guinea’s Mba Mokuy and Botswana’s Pelonomi Venson Moitoi to emerge second for the top job.

In a statement to newsrooms, State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu congratulated His Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad for a race well won and pledged the government’s support to him.

Manoah congratulated Amb Mohammed for her valiant race and thanked her for her strong showing.

“Her candidacy marked the re-emergence of Kenya at the very heart of the pan-African project. Kenya is grateful for the strong campaign she ran, which put pan-African themes — of self-reliance, of sovereignty, of openness to trade — at its very heart,” read the statement.