Kenyans' celebration of Amina's loss at AU is a cry for help

On Monday 30th January 2017, Amina Mohammed the Kenyan foreign Affairs Cabinet secretary came up for a vote at a session of the AU in Addis Ababa. She sought to succeed Dlamini Zuma as the chair of the African Union Commission.

 The government had until that day evidently invested a lot in her candidature with envoys including the DP and the President himself visiting all 53 African states to drum up support for her. A cabinet sub committee was even established specifically for this purpose. While some domestic opposition to her bid is to be expected and accepted in a free and democratic state like Kenya, the tangible sighs of relief around Kenya and in some cases outright celebrations that followed her loss to Moussa Faki of Chad tell a different story.