President Museveni is set to attend the African Union Chairmanship Candidacy launch for Raila Odinga in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Presidency has told the Nile Post that Mr Museveni was due to travel for today’s event whose programme shows invited heads of state and government will arrive by 9.30am.
Mr Museveni’s advance team is already in Nairobi, the Presidency said.
The event, set to take place under the officiation of Kenyan President William Ruto, will also ensure that a campaign website for Raila Odinga is commissioned and active campaigns began.
Also among those expected to attend the event is former South African First Lady Graca Machel.
In February, Mr Ruto and Mr Odinga, a man who until then was his nemesis and one he had sworn never to extend a “handshake”, made a surprise call on President Museveni at state farm in Kisozi, Gomba District.
In the private meeting, the two leaders agreed to endorse Mr Odinga for the AU top job.
Mr Odinga would later express gratitude to the two leaders for backing his candidacy.
“I am very grateful to President Museveni for strongly endorsing my candidacy and to President Ruto for fully backing it,” said Mr Odinga.
The African Union Commission is the AU’s secretariat and undertakes the day to day activities of the Union.
It is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Chairperson of the Commission is the chief executive officer, legal representative of the AU and the Commission’s chief accounting officer.
The decision to tap Mr Museveni, seen as the grandfather of regional politics, was to avoid the embarrassing scenario from seven years ago repeating itself.
Back then, Kenyan ambassador Amina Mohamed lost to Chad’s Foreign Affairs minister, Moussa Faki Mahamat for the AU top job.
Then South Sudan’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, James Morgan, said Kenya failed to convince even some of its closest allies from East Africa to vote for Amina.
“South Sudan voted for Kenya but it is surprising that Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Tanzania did not vote for Kenya during the stages,” Mr Morgan said.
“We think it has to do with how Kenya relates with its neighbours. Burundi said Kenya interferes with her internal affairs by condemning the conflict there.
“Uganda is also not happy with the way Kenya wants everything. I saw the Ugandan President in an animated discussion with his Tanzanian counterpart during the sixth round. In the seventh round, Tanzania didn’t vote for Kenya.”
This time round, Kenya is not taking chances. Its foreign ministry said President Ruto has invited all East African Community (EAC) heads of state to grace his grand unveiling of Mr Odinga’s campaigns ahead of the February 2025 elections.
The EAC comprises eight states — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan — with all expected to back Mr Odinga’s candidacy as a bloc.
The tentative programme shows that the launch on Tuesday will also be the launch of his campaign website, which was set up by the government to help boost his prospects.
Meanwhile, Kenyan media also reported that Mr Odinga, an opposition stalwart, will have his Secretariat merge with the Kenyan government and Mr Odinga’s secretariat into one unit.