* Professor Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba has a deeper knowledge of African politics
* His relentless effort, dedication and wisdom qualify him for the said position
* PLO’s CV is fatter than the fattest bull. A paragon of morality and an epitome of perfection — a pride of Africa
By Duncan Mlanjira
Great Pan African orator, Professor Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba from Kenya is being campaigned for to be considered for the post of African Union Commission (AUC) in the 2025 elections.
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Calling themselves as the ‘Sons and Daughters of African origin’ — led Dr. Tseke Nchabeleng, Executive Director of Corruption Free South — they contend that PLO Lumumba “has a deeper knowledge of African politics” and that “his relentless effort, dedication and wisdom qualify him for the position in AU”.
“He is a mobile encyclopedia when coming to African politics. PLO has authored several books in politics and in law — ‘Call for Political Hygiene in Kenya’; ‘Judicial Review in Kenya’; ‘A hand book on Criminal Procedure in Kenya’; ‘Stolen Moments’ and many more.
“PLO’s CV is fatter than the fattest bull. A paragon of morality and an epitome of perfection — a pride of Africa.”
Candidates for the post can be nominated until May 2024 and the new chair will be elected at the 38th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February 2025 through secret ballot. Past chairpersons have hailed from western, central and southern regions of the AU.
The petition https://chng.it/dTvHDbSR4m has been sent to all AU Member Heads of State, international NGOs, businesses, philanthropists, Pan African institutions or movements, Africans in diaspora and the international media among others.
The group invites many more Africans to sign the petition, saying once they hit 10,000 signatures, they will send it to AU, headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for their response and once the signatures hit 100,000, it will be sent to PAP in South Africa, Gallagher Estates for their parliamentary deliberations.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission is the chief executive officer, legal representative of the AU and the Commission’s chief accounting officer currently held by Moussa Faki Mahamat, former Prime Minister of Chad, who was elected in 2017.
Current chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat (left) meeting Malawi High Commissioner to the UK Dr. Thomas Bisika
The AUC chairperson is elected by the Assembly for a four-year term, renewable once, whose functions, include overall responsibility for the Commission’s administration and finances; promoting and popularising the AU’s objectives and enhancing its performance; consulting and coordinating with key stakeholders like Member States, revelopment partners and others
The position is also responsible for appointing and managing Commission staff and acting as a depository for all AU and OAU treaties and legal instruments.
PLO Lumumba’s resume very impressive as he attained LLB and LLM degrees in Law at the University of Nairobi where he was a student leader, followed by Doctor of Law in the Law of the Sea at the Ghent University in Belgium.
He holds honorary doctorate degrees from University of Cape Coast in Ghana and Bells University in Nigeria and he is an advocate of the High Courts of Kenya and Tanzania and a certified mediator.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya, a Fellow of the Kenya Institute of Management and Honorary Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.
He is chairperson of Farafina Investment Group in Monrovia, Liberia and economic strategic growth & development initiative of Africa based in Nigeria.
He is the former director and CEO of the Kenya School of Law; a former secretary and CEO of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission and a former director and CEO of the defunct Kenya anti-corruption commission now named Ethics & Anti-Corruption Commission.
He is a former lecturer at the University of Nairobi, the United States International University (USIU Africa) and Widener University USA (Nairobi Summer School) as well as former and founding Dean of the Kabarak University School of Law.
He was also the Distinguished Mwalimu Julius Nyerere lecturer at the University of Dar es Salam for 2014 and was the 11th Kwame Nkrumah lecturer at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana in 2016.
He was the 5th Abram Onkgopotse Tiro lecturer at the University of Limpopo in South Africa in 2017; the Nelson Mandela Centenary Memorial lecturer at Walter Sisulu University in South Africa in 2018.
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In July 2023, PLO Lumumba delivered a keynote speech at the 10th year anniversary of the Economic Freedom Fighters) — the third largest political party in South Africa, held at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
He was the 5th Apolo Milton Obote Memorial lecturer in Kampala, Uganda in 2017 and the 2nd Ray Phiri Memorial lecturer at the University of Mpumalanga in South Africa and the inaugural of Samora Moises Machel Memorial in Maputo, Mozambique in 2021.
“He has authored several books on diverse subjects and with many speeches on diverse subjects delivered in and outside Kenya, PLO is recognized as one of the leading public speaker in Kenya and across the African diaspora,” contends the Sons and Daughters of African origin.
“PLO is also the founder of several organizations including the PLO Lumumba Foundation, a charitable organization that has been in operation since 1990; the association of the Citizens Against Corruption and Movement for Dialogue and Non-violence.
“He has been twice recognized as one of the 100 most influential Africans and many more credentials.
“Furthermore, PLO doesn’t only qualify to be the chair of AU Commission, but an imminent president of African Federation — a position which shall easily catapult him to be the commander-in-chief of the United Nations.”
The petitioners also recognise that PLO Lumumba is an admirer of Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana; Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara, the assassinated revolutionary leaders of Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burkina Faso respectively.
“He is an admirer of John Magufuli, the former and the best President of Tanzania, whom he has quoted several times in his speeches.
Late Magufuli and Chakwera during a State Visit
to Tanzania
In 2021, PLO Lumumba glorified the eulogy that President Lazarus Chakwera made at the funeral of Tanzania President Magufuli and in an interview with a Pan-African TV station, he requested for an audience to encourage the Malawian leader “to be in the forefront of the leadership in Africa” — describing Chakwera’s eulogy as the most powerful tribute ever made for an African leader.
“Africa needs something new, something different,” he had said. “I am not discrediting what the other leaders spoke [of Magufuli] but Chakwera touched something that nobody touched [and] he spoke from his heart.
“It was the most powerful and in my view the most touching [eulogy] ever made. It is a funeral oration which history must record as the greatest funeral oration of all time,” said the revered Pan-Africanist.
He added that whether people like Chakwera or not but “go and listen to him again, read him again to capture the essence of the Magufuli that I met; the Magufuli that I know; the Magufuli who loved Africa”.
“That is why when I said in 2015 that Africa needs to be ‘Magufulified’, I have been vindicated,” said Lumumba — and he had his wish granted as he met Chakwera in April 2021 at Mtunthama State Lodge in Lilongwe.
Wish granted at Mtunthama State Lodge
Lumumba was also guest of honour for the 2019 Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (ICAM) annual conference held at Sun ‘n’ Sand Holiday Resort.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the AU Assembly is selected following consultations by Member States and is held for a period for one year by a Head of State — whose current leader is Mohamed Ould Cheikh AI- Ghazouani, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Previous chairpersons are:
* Azali Assoumani of Comoros (2023-2024)
* Macky Sall of Senegal (2022-2023)
* Felix Antoine Tshisekedi of DR Congo (2021-2022)
* Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa (2020-2021)
* Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt (2019-2020)
* Paul Kagame, Rwanda (2018-2019)
* Alpha Conde, Guinea (2017-2018)
* Idriss Déby, Chad (2016-2017)
* Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe (2015-2016)
* Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritania (2014-2015)
* Hailemariam Dessalegn, Ethiopia (2013-2014)
* Thomas Yayi Boni, Benin (2012-2013)
* Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatorial Guinea (2011-2012)
* Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi (2010-2011)
* Muammar Gaddafi, Libya (2009-2010)
* Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Tanzania (2008-2009)
* John Kufuor, Ghana (2007-2008)
* Dénis Sassou N’Guesso, Congo (2006-2007)
* Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria (2004-2005)
* Joaquim Alberto Chissano, Mozambique (2003-2004)
* Thabo Mbeki, South Africa (2002-2003)
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