Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has Monday unveiled his Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary to join in the race for the chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission.
Kenyatta unveiled Amina Mohamed to run against other contenders that include Uganda’s former Vice President Mrs Wandira Kazibwe.
The president while addressing a youth summit in Nairobi said, “I see that Amina is doing well and this looks like an Amina thing. We have nominated her (the CS) to be the AU chairperson.”
Other contenders in the race include the Equatorial Guinea Foreign Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy and his Botswanian counterpart Pelonomi Venson Moitoi.
The recent AU Commission held in Kigali, Rwanda in July was unable elect a person to fill the position as none of the contestants managed to obtain the required two-thirds majority, after seven rounds of voting.
Uganda’s Kazibwe had reportedly been zeroed on by all East African Community Member States ahead of the July election, but according to reports from the summit, she was the least voted for.
The post became vacant after the expiry of term of South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who had been at the commission’s helm since 2012.
This month, the panel recruiting the team will circulate the list of those who want to be elected, in readiness for the election in January 2017.