Let us not fight over EAC post: Raila

Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) and Rwanda President Paul Kagame in Kigali on February 10, 2011. Photo/PPS 

By PMPS newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted Thursday, February 10 2011 at 22:31

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Thursday that he was not opposed to the appointment of a Rwandan as the secretary-general of the East African Community.

The PM said the nationality of the bloc’s next chief executive should not generate controversy in the region comprising Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

“There should be no tug-of-war on this issue really, as the title states; the individual serves all member countries and not only his country.

How will Kenya benefit, for example, if the next secretary-general is from Kenya?” he posed, while speaking in Kigali, Rwanda, where he attended the African Capacity Building Foundation meeting.

Mr Odinga said Africa’s brain drain was holding back development. The Prime Minister said it was a paradox that Africa had an abundance of resources yet it was the poorest continent.

Africa, he added, had not fully utilised the capacity of its scholars, many of whom had gone for greener pastures abroad.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame said African scholars and professionals should be given space to exercise their professions at home to stem the continent’s brain drain.

He said: “If you invest in peoples’ education, you invest in the infrastructure and other social amenities and prevent them from exercising their potential, it is a recipe for chaos.”

On Côte d’Ivoire, Mr Odinga expressed optimism that the mission of African heads of state would succeed in bringing peace to the troubled country.

Political impasse

He said of President Laurent Gbagbo: “Prevarication will not work because it is obvious that he has tampered with election documents in his custody and the documents cannot be relied upon to unlock the political impasse.”

He noted that the AU had assured Mr Gbagbo safe passage if he relinquished claim to the presidency. The PM urged him to take the offer.