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{
"id": 1519397,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1519397/?format=api",
"text_counter": 152,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "development and integration of the African continent and for his distinguished attempt at the election; 2) Records its thanks to His Excellency, Dr. William Ruto, CGH, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Kenya for endorsing the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, EGH, as Kenya’s candidate for election as the chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) and for coordinating the campaign in support of his candidature; and 3) Records its congratulations to H.E Mahamoud Ali Youssouf on his election as the Chairperson of the Commission on Saturday, 15th February, 2025 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a very important Motion because the Senate must be recorded as having had a voice post the events of Addis, Saturday, 15th February, 2025. Kenyans will want to know 20, 30, 40 or 50 years later, as students of history, what leaders of this House thought of the candidature of the Rt Hon. Prime Minister. Second and most importantly, whether we appreciated that even standing up to the stage and taking on the continent of Africa, seeking the support of more than 48 heads of state and governments and securing the support of nearly half of them, is no mean achievement. Never minding the fact that, unfortunately, we did not clinch this position as a country. There have been very many speculations on reasons. I have seen people say various things. I saw Sen. Wambua’s party leader weigh in. I have seen my good friend, Sen. Onyonka on TV shows. First, I hold the view that we can only opine about what may have led and what may not have worked well in this campaign. However, it will be impossible to tell. Let nobody lie to the country that they can tell which countries voted in favour or against. These theories that are being advanced here- “oh! SADAC” - I think that is what Sen. Onyonka was saying or this or the other. You cannot tell. Sen. Onyonka, this was a secret ballot. We watched from the floors of the AU as people cast their votes. Presidents were being handed a secret ballot. In fact, many of them by the time of voting had long left the room. The vote was cast by either their Foreign Affairs Ministers or Vice-Presidents for those countries that had been represented. Therefore, it is not possible to accurately tell which country voted for who. Essentially, in this day and age of fake news, people can fall victim to so many shenanigans and theories that are bandied around. However, you cannot accurately predict and say country X, Y, or Z voted for so-and-so, not even if you are a handwriting specialist. Unless, Sen. Onyonka, you know President Ramaphosa's handwriting, then you can say, I saw that one, I think I know how he writes and so many other things. However, even then, where will you access these ballot papers? We can perhaps speculate. We know for a fact that immediately after the first round where former Prime Minister Raila was leading, many of the votes that had been cast in favour of the candidate from Madagascar, shifted to the candidate from Djibouti."
}