What Uhuru and Amina did for her to emerge leading favorite

Amina Mohamed is working her way at ensuring she has the best shot at becoming the next AU chairperson come January next year.

She and President Uhuru Kenyatta are busy on a charming and wooing campaign to rally the support of various nations and blocs in order to realize this objective.

The Foreign Ministry Cabinet Secretary earned an endorsement from the 19 member COMESA bloc. The regional body was meeting in Madagascar and Amina Mohamed used the opportunity to highlight her vision and sell her candidature.

The campaign was successful and her message must have hit home as she ended with an endorsement and pledged support. Among the things she aims to focus on include;- trade, continuing gender equality,a more peaceful Africa and pursuing self reliance both within member countries as well as for the AU itself which currently relies on donor funding.

In a statement, COMESA said,"“Kenya presented its Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador (Dr) Amina Mohamed for the position of chairperson of the African Union Commission. It requested the bloc’s support in order to send a positive message to the rest of the world,

“In its decision, the council urged member states to support Ambassador Mohamed for the position of chairperson and Mr Bouh for the position of deputy chairperson."

Her support is building even in the EAC community where Uganda has withdrawn its canditate. Tanzania remains the challenge because it is a member of SADC and the bloc voted and endorsed Botwana's candidate. Amina has met her Tanzanian counterpart but the nation is yet to speak on the issue. COMESA members who also happen to be SADC members like Malawi and Madagascar have pledged their support for Amina Mohammed.

Uhuru Kenyatta was last weekend leading another campaign in West Africa dealing with heads of state directly on the sidelines of the African Union Extraordinary Summit on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa in Lome, Togo.

He too proved successful winning the support of 8 heads of state from West, North and Central Africa. Those who pledged their support were Faure Gnassingbé (Togo), Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (Mali), Alpha Condé (Guinea), John Dramani Mahama (Ghana),Idriss Déby (Chad)Presidents Alassane Ouattara (Ivory Coast), Denis Sassou Nguesso (Congo Brazaville) and Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal of Algeria.

This is quite a good return as she can count the support of at least 20 countries and her candidature seems to be attracting support all across Africa. Given there are a couple of candidates in the race, getting almost half of the member nations in support is a good start. She is quickly building up momentum and emerging as the clear favorite.