‘I am not bitter’; Raila speaks after AUC vote loss
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has conceded defeat in the African Union Commission (AUC) chairmanship race, ending Kenya’s high-stakes bid for the top continental seat.
“I had offered myself as a candidate, and for the past few months, I have been running around the continent talking to leaders and seeking their votes. Today, they have expressed themselves, and as it is now, we did not succeed. They said we must respect democracy, and therefore, I concede defeat,” Odinga said.
A few things have emerged during the Raila Odinga campaign to be the next AUC chairman and they are actually good things for Kenya. One thing is that President William Ruto was genuinely committed to getting the AUC for his country with Raila Odinga as the chairman. There are those who quibbled all along that William Ruto just wanted to get rid of Raila from local politics and also to win his ODM voters to his side in 2027 elections. From what we have all seen William Ruto was sincere and genuine about getting that AUC chairman seat for our country. That is very good.
The other thing Kenyans have seen is that those two politicians became honest friends to each other and that may have far reaching impact and influence in Kenya politics as we go forward. Kenya is at crossroads politically at the moment. The Wamunyoro party led by Rigathi Gachagua are plotting to take the next government in 2027 and they have recruited Kalonzo Muysoka in that mission.
The problem they have is they will have to all rally behind Kalonzo as their presidential candidate and many of them are not going to accept that. So they have their own nightmares. They want Martha Karua in there but they know she will only join them if she is the presidential candidate. In the meantime Jubilee who is also working with the Wamunyoro party has also nominated their own presidential candidate, Fred Matiang’i. So the whole Wamunyoro thing is an ocean of chaos going every direction.
Now Raila Odinga comes back into active politics on the ground and it is going to have some profound impact in the political landscape in Jamhuri. The first area where Raila may help President Ruto is to clear up the National Assembly Speaker issue and determine either to keep Wetangula or sort things out differently.
My guess is that they are going to keep Wetangula and make some compromises here and there. In any event the way that parliament operates with complete obedience to President Ruto it probably makes no difference who the speaker is. That is what needs to change so parliament becomes an independent institution from the executive as provided in our constitution and Raila needs to talk to Ruto about that and make it work.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has expressed appreciation to President William Ruto for the unwavering support he offered towards his African Union Commission chairmanship bid.
Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday, Raila asked Kenyans to ignore those blaming the President for his loss, saying everyone in his circle did their best.
The ODM leader said he had made the decision to vie for the position on his own and Ruto only volunteered personal and state support.
“Ruto only came and said he was going to support me and I appreciate it. I want to say Ruto did everything possible. He gave me all the support that enabled me to travel across the continent,” he said.
“He gave me a platform for me to meet all the leaders in the continent and actually we were sure we would win.”
Raila, however, said some factors which were beyond their control came into play, resulting to his loss.
He nonetheless said the outcome of the results did not matter much as Kenya had won either way.
“We accept the results, I have congratulated my competitor…so ignore a lot of blame games that are going to be played.”
So the two leaders worked together in good faith and now they have to work together for the country. They have to sort out that Speaker issue very fast and bring parliament back to normal operations and also pay respect to the court ruling on the matter and solve it in away that makes Kenyans comfortable that their leaders respect the laws of the country.
The second real big issue that Raila Odinga and President Ruto have to work on is getting that IEBC sorted out and now that there is a panel to pick IEBC chairperson and commissioners the first responsibility for both leaders is to respect the Panel working on IEBC and leave them alone with no interference and useless fights. Let the panel do their job which they have already started and now they have more than 1,800 applicants for IEBC commissioners positions in the country.
Once the IEBC is established all Kenyan leaders must work very hard to make sue that voter registration is started all over the country and it should be go on for the next two years nonstop. Kenyans need to have the confidence that they will choose their next leaders in 2027 with their votes and they need voting cards to do that.
There are some ten million young Kenyans who want to vote and they have no voting cards. And Raila has to talk to his new buddy William Ruto and tell him that I.D cards should be free and should be processed very fast and not take months to be issued because without that I.D card you cannot register to vote.
If these two amigos take such practical initiatives that help the whole country and not just look after their self interests. Kenyans will respect that and there is nothing more important than showing respect to Kenyans even when they disagree with you. The political noisemakers like me will go on but it is what is done on the ground that matters to Kenyans and that is what will determine the elections in 2027.
Raila Odinga also needs to talk to Ruto very seriously on the issue of abductions and Kenyan youth being found dead in funeral homes like the notorious Nairobi Mortuary. How the heck do people deposit dead bodies at the morgue and nobody writes down the name of the dead person and the name of the person who brought them there.
I know how funeral homes work because when my mother died my sisters took her body in one of those and I was coming home as quickly as I could. You go to the funeral home to pick a body you provide your name and ID and they will figure all that out. How come we have dead bodies at Nairobi Mortuary and nobody knows who took them there? Is there a conspiracy between this mortuary and the killers?
Anger over abductions mounts in Kenya
People hold photos of disappeared or deceased relatives in front of the president’s office as they gather to present a list of people who disappeared.
Before the Gen Z uprising in June 2024, Raila Odinga launched Saba Saba action against the Ruto government and at that time Rigathi Gachagua as the DP was ready to kill everybody in those demos including Raila Odinga as they bombed his cars.
Saba Saba: Planned march, memorial concert to mark historic day
A protester reacts as a tear gas canister explodes on him during an anti-government demonstration called following nationwide deadly protests over tax hikes and a controversial now-withdrawn tax bill in downtown Nairobi, on July 2, 2024.
Kenyan police fired tear gas to scatter small crowds in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday, AFP reporters saw, after youth activists called for fresh protests following deadly violence during anti-tax hike demonstrations last month.
Raila Odinga helping President Ruto to end abductions and provide justice to the victims and families of those abducted and killed could be a real turning point in Kenya politics.
Basically the issue is that Raila working with Ruto has to produce real and significant results for Kenyans and offer a new hope for the nation and its citizens. We still have Kalonzo and his crew telling Kenyans that Kalonzo stepped down for Raila in 15 years and therefore Raila must now support Kalonzo for the presidency. That is irrelevant to Kenyans.
Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti during a Sundays service in AIC Baraka in Mlolongo, Machakos County on February 16, 2025
In terms of the next presidential campaigns it is safe to say that Raila Odinga will not be there but that depends on what happens in the country in the next two years. If the country is in total chaos everything is possible including Raila running for the presidency.
If the Ruto government sorts things out, I see Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga as a possible DP candidate in 2027 and I see her as a winning politician based on what she has done in Homa Bay.
She is my ideal governor helping to develop industrial food production in her county, working with fishing folks to get better and enhance the business and just on the ground for her county and for the country.
The other thing that emerged from this campaign is just the sheer energy and effort for Raila Odinga. The guy is fit and healthy and it looked very good on him in the whole campaign.
He was everywhere, fit and ready. That is a good thing for our country. We move on as always.
The overall support for Raila in his quest to be the AUC Chairperson speaks for itself in our country. Time to move forward.
Support for Raila wasn’t about 2027 politics – Ruto
President William Ruto has said his support for Raila Odinga in the African Union Commission chairmanship race had nothing to do with safeguarding his own political interests.
Speaking in Addis Ababa on Sunday, Ruto said he supported Raila because his vision for the leadership of the continental bloc mirrored Kenya’s interests.
“When he (Raila) announced that he wanted to run for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson, I told him I would support him. It was not about politics or 2022 or 2027,” he said.
“It was about the only Kenyan who had aspired to run for a position that we have looked for as a country.”
Ruto’s clarification followed claims by a section of political commentators in different fora that Ruto’s unwavering support for Raila could be a political calculation to eliminate stiff competition ahead of the 2027 presidential race.
The President spoke a day after Raila lost the AUC seat to Djibouti’s Mahmoud Ali Youssouf in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ruto stated that he promised Raila that he would put the entire government machinery and his personal support behind him and delivered on the pledge.
The President added that the former Prime Minister, on his part, did not disappoint as he equally put his best foot forward from the onset of the campaign trail.
“Raila Odinga did not disappoint. He did the best. He met everybody that needed to be met. He spoke to everybody that needed to be spoken to. He did a fantastic job in the debate and in fact, even the naysayers agreed that he came out better than the others in the debate,” Ruto said.
This was my look at Raila’s mission in the AUC campaign. Nothing has changed.
