African Union Denies Backing Egypt'S Candidate, Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh For WTO Job

African Union has denied the claim of Egypt’s candidate, Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, that the organisation has endorsed him to represent Africa for the position of the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The AU's reaction comes six days after Mamdouh told WTO delegates and journalists that he had gone through the process to represent Africa.

According to Mamdouh, the other two candidates, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Kenya's Amina Mohamed, are not recognised by the African Union, as they didn't go through the AU process, making him the sole representative, "I think what is the position of the Egyptian government is that the Egyptian candidate — and now this is a matter of fact not a matter of interpretation — is the only candidate of the three Africans who has been endorsed by the executive council of the African Union,” he said.

“That is African process, what is happening here at the WTO does not depend on what happens in Addis Ababa. But in terms of characterisation or description, I think the respective honorable candidates from Kenya and Nigeria have not passed through the processes and procedure of the African Union as the Egyptian candidate did.”

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African Union Deny Selecting Any Candidate

Contrary to Mamdouh's claim, African Union said the meetings held to select a consensus candidate hit a rock, affecting the plan to field a single candidate for the WTO top job which is being contested by various candidates from six continents. In a statement sent to ministries of foreign affairs of member countries, it was disclosed that there's no African Union-endorsed candidate for the WTO Director-General post.

“The Commission, under the guidance of the Ministerial Committee, has made concerted efforts towards the endorsement of one single African Candidate for this post. The meeting of the Committee at Ministerial level was planned for three separate dates in order to deliberate on it, namely 2nd July, 10th July and 15th July 2020.

“However, due to circumstance beyond the control of the Committee, the meeting has not materialized to date. As of present, therefore, there is no African Union-endorsed candidate for this post.”

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Kenya's Patrick Lumumba Criticises Africa For Fielding Multiple Candidates

Prominent lawyer and Kenya's former director of Anti-Corruption Commission, Patrick Lumumba, criticised African countries for always competing against themselves rather than support each other on the international stage. He made reference to the position of the non-permanent membership of the UN security council and the present tussle for the position of the Director-General of WTO, “Our lack of coordination, different things that we should do jointly, and with one voice, we don’t,” he said.

He added that, “Recently when we were competing for the non-permanent membership of the UN security council, Djibouti was competing with Kenya. Why?. Right now, there is the WTO; Okonjo-Iweala is the candidate we should back, given her credentials. Now, a Kenyan candidate has emerged, an Egyptian candidate has emerged — we are going to be manipulated and none of the Africans is going to get it.

“We’ve got to learn to do things properly as a continent. And when we do that, we’ll be stronger and ultimately, our populations would benefit from it.” Lumumba said during an interview with Osasu Igbinedion on The Osasu Show.