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‘Sins’ of the past hindering Amina Mohamed’s bid for AU’s top job

By PETER ODUOR January 10th, 2017 2 min read

Kenyans on Twitter have launched an online campaign against Ambassador Amina Mohamed’s quest for African Union Chairperson office.

And it has seems to have everything to do with perceived ‘sins’ that the Kenyan Foreign Affairs cabinet secretary committed in the past, particularly her negligence and lack of commitment in handling the affairs of Kenyans who are in trouble abroad.

Cases of Kenyan women being mistreated in the Middle East, Kenyan men held in prisons abroad on flimsy charges and the unfortunate incidents of Kenyans dying in foreign prisons have come up again and again as she prepares for her AU elections.

The death of Zakayo Miriuki Gatimu, a technology consultant who died in prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after Kenyan authorities and the Foreign Affairs Ministry ignored his pleas for help and railroaded the family here in Kenya is one of such deaths.

#DEARAFRICANOTAMINA4AU

Of note to Kenyans, who on Monday took to social media to call out the cabinet secretary, asking the continent not to vote her in, is the fact that little or indeed nothing is being done to secure, for example the release of Kenyans currently being held in prison in South Sudan in what looks like a squabble between two Sudanese men in Juba.

The state promised in June that it would intervene in the case against the four Kenyans who were last year jailed for life but so far, not much has been done.

And to express their opposition to Ms Mohamed’s candidature, Kenyans on Twitter rained in biting tweets under the hashtag # DearAfricaNotAmina4AU.

The elections for the new African Union (AU) Chairperson will be held during the 28th Ordinary Session of the AU Summit in Addis Ababa later this month.

Ambassador Mohamed declared that she will be in the race to replace Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who has led the organization since 2012.

Ambassador Mohamed is expected to go against some of Africa’s leading diplomats that include Botswana’s Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Moussa Faki Mahamat from Chad, UN representative in Central Africa Republic Abdoulaye Bathily from Senegal and Equatorial Guinea’s Foreign Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy.

Perhaps its a good thing for the cabinet secretary that ordinary Kenyans have not voting privileges at the AU Summit.