Ruto: Raila Odinga is not AUC candidate for Kenya but for East Africa
Ruto said the decision to back Odinga was the result of elaborate consultations with leaders from across the East African Community.
President William Ruto has on Thursday exuded confidence that all presidents from the East Africa region will back the candidature of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga' for the African Union Commission chairmanship role.
Speaking in Siaya County on Thursday during the Piny Luo Cultural Festival, Ruto explained that Odinga's bid is not just a Kenyan initiative but one which has the endorsement of East African leaders.
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Ruto added that the decision to back Odinga was the result of elaborate consultations with leaders from across the East African Community (EAC), including Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.
"Raila Odinga is not a candidate for Kenya, he is a candidate for East Africa. Before we rolled out his candidature for the African Union, we went to President Museveni as the elder of our region, we spoke to all the East African heads of state and we confirmed that we had the right candidate with the right credentials to be able to champion the unity, the progress and the success of Africa as a continent," he said.
Museveni presented to the Luo elders a picture taken during the tenure of Kenya's founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
He disclosed that he had already given the pictures to Ruto and Odinga.
"Because I have come here and I've been gifted, I also have a gift for you. This picture was taken on June 3, 1963. This is when Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere Milton Obote, and others met in Nairobi and declared that they would form the Federation of East Africa during that year.
"But after a little while, some of them started developing cold feet. That is why in 1964, Nyerere and Karume went ahead and formed Tanzania from Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Because you said there are different chapters of the Luos, I will give you more copies, five of them," President Museveni said.
Where real power is
The Ugandan leader declared his support for Odinga's bid for the African Union Commission chairmanship, even as he declared that the real power was with the African heads of state.
"We are supporting the candidature of Raila for the chairmanship of the African Union. He will help us do some mobilisation and brainstorming, but the real power is with us here. We are in charge of these states. We are the ones who can say we move and we move. For him, he can talk but the people with power are the ones in charge of these governments," Museveni said.
Ruto said endorsing Odinga for the coveted post to replace Moussa Faki is a win-win situation. Faki's tenure is coming to an end.
"We want to unify the country and work together towards the unity of Kenya and that is important to all of us," he said.
Odinga acknowledged Museveni's endorsement of his African Union candidacy and appreciated Ruto for backing it.
He noted that he accepted an invitation from Museveni for a joint meeting with Ruto to discuss the deepening of regional integration within the East African Community.
"I am very grateful to President Museveni for strongly endorsing my candidacy and to President Ruto for fully backing it," Raila said.
Ruto and Raila crafted a campaign team to rally regional nations to support the Kenyan opposition leader's bid.
President Ruto added that he wanted a win-win outcome for everyone, even those in the opposition who felt left out.
"There is room for all of us in Kenya, you don't win by making others lose. Those in opposition must mean well for Kenya, those in government must mean well for Kenya. There are no citizens who are in opposition; it is only these leaders who have a job in Parliament. All Kenyans are on the same side."
