Today marks the deadline for nominations for West African countries interested in putting forward their citizens for the upcoming elections to leadership positions at the African Union Commission (AUC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
By close of work today, President Akufo-Addo is widely expected to pick one of the two Ghanaians who are both lawyers and top-level diplomats of global repute as Ghana’s nominee for the AUC chairmanship.
They are His Excellency Thomas Kwesi Quartey, who currently occupies the Deputy Chairperson position at the AU C, and His Excellency Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the current United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General for West and North Africa.
The President of the Coalition of Supporters Unions of Africa (COSUA), Lawyer Sarfo Abebrese, mentioned that COSUA, which is a partner organisation to the African Union, will commend the government for either choice and rally its membership across 50 countries of Africa to support him.
“We have been rooting for the restoration of African dignity at the leadership of the AU Commission, and both candidates bring exactly that kind of leadership Africans want to see in Addis Ababa,” Abebrese said.
According to him, the two top diplomats share too many things in common.
“They were both born in December 1950, they are both lawyers and diplomats with a track record of accomplishments that make them very difficult to choose between,” he pointed out.
He added that COSUA’s ECOWAS mandate was issued and signed by Dr. Chambas in Abuja in 2009, whilst their AU partnership agreement was brokered and signed by H.E. Quartey in Addis Ababa in 2018.
Abebrese, however, called on the government to pay close attention to what he termed ‘the Arikana factor’. He explained that the former AU Ambassador to the USA, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, has repeatedly declared her support for Lawyer Quartey, and indicated that she has so far resisted all the pressure she was being subjected to in order to run for the chairmanship out of her reverence for and confidence in her ‘brother’ (Quartey).
“Just last night, she told me if Ghana nominates any other candidate, she was going to accept the nomination from her country Zimbabwe and run for the SADC region,” Sarfo disclosed.
He added, “Should that happen, Ghana and Zimbabwe could be splitting the ‘opposition votes’ and that could give Faki Mahamat an advantage to sail through to the detriment of Ghana and indeed the entire continent of Africa.”
“Our prayer is that the government of Ghana will beat the deadline today by nominating either H.E. Quartey or H.E. Chambas because either of them will be fully supported by COSUA to beat H.E. Mahamat fair and square in the elections in February next year, but I hope the ‘Arikana factor’ will be taken into consideration to ensure Ghana’s candidate pulls through eventually,” Abebrese, who is also an Attorney of the New York Supreme Court, stated.
It remains to be seen which of the two eminent Ghanaian diplomats will get the nod by close of work today.