AGENCIES: Uganda’s Prof. Pamela Kasabiiti Mbabazi is one of eight who have been nominated to contest as Vice Chairperson in next week’s African Union Commission (AUC) elections in Addis Ababa.
Prof. Mbabazi,51, is the Chairperson of the National Planning Authority of Uganda. She is the only candidate from the East African country contesting in the February 6 polls that will be run using a new format that will be sensitive to gender and equal regional representation.
“I intend to lead policies that harness Africa’s youthful population. Africa is gifted with a youthful population that should be optimized to create the desired demographic dividends for the continent. This is one of my key motivations for my candidature,” she said recently.
Mbabazi will contest against three men and four women. The women are Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa from Rwanda who is the deputy governor of the national bank of Rwanda, Hasna Barkat Daoud, a Djiboutian lawyer and former government minister; Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, a Ghanian diplomat; and Fatoumata C.M. JallowTambajang, the former vice president of the Gambia.
This is the first AUC election since the AU’s reform process started in 2017 under the guidance of Rwanda President Paul Kagame’s executive.
The new structure of the AUC is to be composed of eight members. They are the Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and six Commissioners.
The former eight Commissioners have been reduced to six, with the merger of the roles of Commissioner for Peace and Security with Political Affairs, and of Commissioner for Economic Development with Trade and Industry.The new rules stipulate that the six commissioner posts will be equally distributed by gender across the three regions that are not represented at Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson level.
Chairman, Faki Moussa Mahamat of Chad, is running unopposed for a second four-year term. He however will still face the vote, as the rules state that he still has to secure the votes of no less than 37 of the 55 Heads of State who will be voting on February 7th.
The last Ugandan to attempt to contest at the AU former Vice President Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe was in 2017. Faki Moussa Mahamat won the final vote, several rounds after Dr Kazibwe had fallen out of the race.
SOURCE: Briefing note | Election watch: The race for African union top posts |
Luckystar Miyandazi and Philomena Apiko November 2020
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