Willis Otieno: How Ruto Sabotaged Raila’s AU Bid to Kill His Influence

In a fiery interview on Citizen TV’s panel discussion hosted by Trevor Ombija, Willis Otieno, the Deputy Leader of the Safina Party, launched a scathing attack on President William Ruto, accusing him of orchestrating Raila Odinga’s failure to secure the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairmanship.

Otieno, a vocal political analyst and lawyer, argued that Ruto’s personal interests and diplomatic missteps cost Kenya the prestigious continental position, which he believed was Raila’s for the taking.

Ruto’s Diplomatic Missteps and the SADC Factor

Otieno pointed to Kenya’s strained relations with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a critical factor in Raila’s loss. He claimed that Kenya’s controversial stance on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which contradicted SADC’s position, alienated key regional allies. “We lost this election the moment we lost SADC,” Otieno asserted. “And we lost SADC purely because Kenya had taken a position in the DRC that was contrary to the SADC position.”

He placed the blame squarely on President Ruto, stating, “The person who must take ultimate political responsibility for the failure of the Kenyan state is William Ruto. What went wrong is William Ruto failed the people of Kenya in terms of his diplomatic maneuvers and his personal interests.”

Ruto’s Calculated Campaign Against Raila

Otieno went further, alleging that Ruto actively worked to undermine Raila’s continental influence. He claimed that Ruto orchestrated a calculated campaign within the African Union to diminish Raila’s diplomatic stature, including lobbying against his continued tenure as the AU High Representative for Infrastructure. “In a decisive maneuver, he formally petitioned the AU to rescind Raila’s appointment as the High Representative for Infrastructure, a role he had occupied since 2018,” Otieno revealed.

This move, according to Otieno, was not just a political maneuver but a clear indication of Ruto’s determination to curtail Raila’s influence beyond Kenya’s borders. “Actively working to have Raila removed from an international role underscores the lingering political rivalry between them, despite their public gestures of reconciliation,” he said.

Personal Interests Over National Interests

Otieno accused Ruto of prioritizing his personal interests over Kenya’s national interests. He argued that Ruto saw Raila’s potential AU victory as a threat to his local political support base. “William Ruto saw this as an opportunity to pursue personal interests, and the personal interest was that if Raila were to win in the AU, he would be able to bring himself to get his local political support base,” Otieno explained.

He painted a vivid picture of Ruto’s hypothetical reaction to a Raila victory: “I do believe that if Raila were declared the winner, William Ruto’s presidential jet would have landed at Kisumu Airport, he would have done a rally at Kondele to just create a national wave that would help him gain that constituency.”

A Rejection of Ruto’s Leadership

Otieno also criticized Ruto’s leadership style, suggesting that the AU bid was more about Ruto than Raila. “I do not take it that this was a Raila election; the person who was on the ballot at the AU was William Ruto,” he said. “We had in the municipal realm rejected him, he took himself to the continent hiding behind Raila Odinga, and the continent also rejected him.”

He called for a shake-up in Kenya’s diplomatic leadership, particularly targeting Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. “Musalia Mudavadi needs to be fired. The gaps that we have had in the Foreign Ministry are not serving the interests of this nation at all. There should be a change in the leadership at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Otieno declared.

Otieno’s remarks raise broader questions about Kenya’s diplomatic positioning within the AU. Was Ruto’s opposition to Raila driven purely by local political calculations, or was he aligning with other regional interests? Otieno suggested that Ruto’s actions signaled a perception of Raila not just as a domestic competitor but as a figure whose influence needed to be neutralized at a continental level.

Ultimately, Otieno’s narrative paints a picture of a missed opportunity for Kenya, one that was squandered by internal political rivalries and diplomatic missteps.