The process has begun for the February 2025 election of a new African Union Commission chairperson. According to the commission, the consideration for nominees will be made based on vision statements outlining how candidates intend to advance the “transformative agenda of the African Union.” Nominees will also be considered based on their game plan for addressing existing and emerging challenges facing the continent.
“All the eight (8) Senior leadership positions of the AU Commission are open for candidates’ submissions guided by the regional allocation of the portfolios. The positions include that of the Chairperson, the Deputy Chairperson, and six Commissioner posts,” noted a news release posted by the AU.
Candidates were nominated by August 6. The new chairperson will be elected at the 38th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2025. The AU Assembly will elect the chair by secret ballot. Past chairpersons have hailed from Western, Central and Southern regions of the continent.
Nominees include Djibouti Foreign Minister Youssef Mahamoud Ali; Former AU High Representative for Infrastructure Development and former Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga; former Madagascar Foreign Minister Richard Randriamandrato and legal advisor Anil Gayan, who has also held important ministerial portfolios, namely Foreign Affairs, Tourism and Health in Mauritius.
The nominee appearing to be the front-runner is 79-year-old former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Some may see this as an odd choice due to an African population projected to make up 42 percent of the world’s youth population by 2030 and will also account for 75 percent of the population on the continent of those under age 35, reports “Policy Brief, Africa’s Future: Youth and the Data Defining Their Lives.”
A piece published in the World Economic Forum titled “How the African Union Can Put the Youth Demographic at the Center of Leadership” explains that “the face of African leadership remains old and does not reflect its populace. …”
“The AU consists of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African continent. One of its objectives is ‘to promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance.’
At the core of democracy is representation, particularly inclusive representation. Yet, Africa’s largest demographic remains one of the most under-represented in decision-making roles in governance.
For leadership to thrive and be responsive in a democracy, inclusion is non-negotiable. In guaranteeing inclusion, certain significant groups of people must be considered, such as youth, women, people with disabilities and minorities,” the article notes.
The March 6, 2023 WEF report explained in a section titled “Youth Perspectives,” that young people of Africa’s participation, in decision-making roles in government must no longer be left to the whims and caprices of African leaders.
“The AU exists because young African leaders came together to form the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to lead de-colonialism efforts, which youths were at the forefront of. Therefore, it is time for the AU to rally African leaders to guarantee at least 10 percent youth representation in national and sub-national cabinets,” the report added.
Recently, Kenya launched the candidacy of Raila Odinga as chairperson for the AUC. Odinga, “a veteran opposition leader and former prime minister, is seeking to replace Moussa Faki of Chad as African Union Commission chairperson since his term ends early next year,” reported VOA. Odinga has the endorsement of leaders of Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Regarding the AUC voting at the 2025 AU annual summit, “there’ll be stiff competition … the countries will get divided between the Anglophone and Francophone countries,” Edgar Githua, an international security and diplomate expert at the U.S. International University in Nairobi, told VOA.
“It’s good he’s been endorsed by the East African bloc. He said the Anglophone countries may support him but not so much the Francophone, with the ‘cultural language barriers.’ So ‘he has his work cut out for him’ campaigning among the French-speaking countries, that he’ll support their interests,” Githua added.
Kenya’s President William Ruto officially endorsed his long-time political rival Odinga to become the AUC chairperson. President Ruto noted that Odinga would be the perfect candidate to actualize Africa’s greatest potential of becoming a global economic powerhouse, reported Citizen Digital, a website that reports on issues and news in Kenya.
The chairperson of the African Union Commission serves as the Chief Executive Officer, legal representative of the AU and the Commission’s Chief Accounting Officer. The chairperson of the Commission is elected by the Assembly for a four-year term, renewable only once.
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