The East African Community is set to endorse Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga as its preferred candidate for the African Union Commission chairmanship today.
Mr Odinga, who is also Kenya's former Prime Minister, will be officially unveiled by President William Ruto in Nairobi.
Reports indicate that all regional heads have been invited to the official launch at Nairobi's State House to show solidarity with the Kenyan candidate.
However, it is uncertain whether Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will attend, given that Mogadishu has nominated a candidate to compete with Mr Odinga.
East African Community chairperson Salva Kiir, who is also the President of South Sudan, arrived in Kenya on Monday ahead of the event.
Mr Kiir will lead the other heads of state in endorsing Odinga, who previously served as the African Union's special representative on infrastructure.
Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister, Musalia Mudavadi, has been actively campaigning for Odinga's candidacy.
His latest efforts were during the recently concluded Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-9) Ministerial Meeting, where he lobbied several African foreign ministers to support Odinga's bid.
"There are over 25 Foreign Ministers representing their countries at this conference, and we have spent a lot of time talking and persuading them as we aim to harness more support and lobby aggressively for the Kenyan candidate," said Mr Mudavadi."Now we cannot afford to lose time as this election takes place in February 2025. Africa is huge, and even before the official launch, the President has been leading campaigns, approaching many of his colleagues across the continent. We must now follow up and, together with the candidate, consolidate support," the official added.
In March, Raila Odinga made significant strides toward securing the chairmanship of the African Union Commission after the continent's Executive Council unanimously adopted a key decision.
The decision designates it as the Eastern Africa region's turn to nominate candidates for the position, in adherence with the Statute of the AU Commission, the Rules of Procedure of African Union policy organs, and decisions made by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
