Speaking during a joint press briefing with Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi yesterday, Raila said he was surprised to hear the government supporting his bid.
According to the ODM Leader, he did not expect to be
supported by the President William Ruto-led administration.
The former Prime Minister noted that he made a decision to
offer his service to the African continent and was not asked by the government
to vie for the AU top seat.
“The Kenyan government did not ask me to run for the African Union Commission chairmanship, I made a decision that I want to offer myself to serve the continent.
"You cannot run for this position without being sponsored
by your country, your candidature is not valid until your country says yes,”
said Raila.
“I was pleasantly surprised that the Kenyan government said
that they will support me. I was expecting them to say No. I don’t know the
reason they said yes,” he continued.
According to Mudavadi, the government chose to support Raila
because he is competent and has the requisite experience.
“We said yes because Raila is competent and we are looking
at Kenya’s national interests and Africa’s interests so this is not about our
local issues and we really want the fourth estate to help us to protect the
national interests of Kenya because it will be a first for Kenya and will be an
opportunity for Kenya to offer leadership to the African Union and Raila has
the requisite experience,” Mudavadi explained.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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