CAPTION: Exiled lawyer Miguna Miguna (L) and ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga (R) Exiled Kenyan lawyer Dr Miguna Miguna, known to occasionally throw jabs at his long-time political friend-foe Raila Odinga, has once again hit out at the African Union (AU) High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa in a social media post sent out early Monday morning.
Miguna, who was most recently back on the limelight after the Thirdway Alliance political party unveiled him as the party’s candidate for the Nairobi governor by-election that never was, took to his Twitter page where he wrote a list of five questions directed to Baba as he seemingly sought to gauge his performance at the helm of the esteemed AU position which he has now held for three years ever since his appointment in 2018. "As Africa's "Infrastructure Minister" 1. How many Pan-African Highways have you built? 2. How many Pan-African Universities have you built? 4. How many Pan-African Fish Plants have you set up? 5. How many Youth have you EMPLOYED?" he asked, customarily referring to him as a "conman". In the comments section, many echoed Miguna's questions as some took the chance to further reprimand the ODM party leader over his "misplaced priorities" given his unnecessary infatuation with his pet project - the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) - which has led him to neglect all other things, including his duties at the AU. "Baba is only interested in BBI which he thinks will give him power," wrote Joseville Masika. "This is what African Union pays for Appointing a non Pan Africanist leader as AU Special Envoy for Infrastructure," replied Daniel Mwambonu. Raila's Role at AU The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, appointed Raila Odinga of Kenya as High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa on 20 October 2018.
According to Wikipedia , the High Representative is tasked with working to support and strengthen the efforts of the commission's relevant departments.
The mandate includes mobilizing political support from member states and facilitating greater ownership by all concerned stakeholders on the continent. "In the discharge of his mandate, the High Representative will pay particular attention to the missing links along the transnational highway corridors identified as part of the Trans-African Highways Network, with a view to facilitating their development and modernization. He will also focus on the continental high-speed train, which is one of the flagship projects of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063, in the context of the relevant African Union decisions. He will interact with the current Champions of related African Union initiatives and seek their guidance, to ensure the required synergy and coherence," reads the page in part.
At the time of publishing this post, there were no records on some of Raila's immediate and specific goals since his appointment or the progress towards their achievement.
What is evident, however, is the fact that the former Prime Minister clearly does not intend to rest until his BBI agenda goes through the line.
In his most recent message from the weekend, Raila asked Kenyans to support the initiative as it presents "a concrete plan for change and unity, and adding that "deep ethnic divisions" in the country would end when BBI is implemented ahead of the 2022 general election.
Addressing crowds at Kondele trading centre on Saturday evening, Raila termed BBI as a great equaliser.