Raila Speaks On Govt Spending Ksh13 Billion In AUC Campaigns
According to Raila, the government spent money on whatever it felt was necessary, without spending lavishly.
Marvin Chege 
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has denounced claims that the government spent Ksh13 billion of taxpayers' money to finance his Africa Union Commission (AUC) chairperson campaigns across the continent.
Speaking at State House Mombasa on Monday, February 24 following his return from Addis Ababa, Raila began by appreciating President Ruto for standing by him, clarifying that it was his choice to run for the AUC chair position and not a request from the Head of State.
Raila then dismissed claims, notably made first by Juja Member of Parliament George Koimburi, that the billions were used to persuade African leaders to support him for the African Union Commission chairmanship, a race he ended up losing to Djibouti's Mahamoud Youssouf after six rounds.
President William Ruto (right) greets Raila Odinga (left) while Kimani Ichung'wah looks on at State Lodge in Mombasa on Monday, February 24, 2025. /PCS
"I am grateful to President Ruto for standing by me. He never asked me to run. I announced myself that I was going to run for the AUC Chair seat and Ruto only came after I had made that announcement to support my candidature and he did support my candidature not just by words but by deeds," he revealed.
"He put up the machinery to help the campaign for me. I have seen that somebody is talking about Ksh13 billion that was spent on the campaign. I don’t know which world these guys live in and whether they know what a billion means. A billion shillings to do what?"
According to Raila, the government spent money on whatever it felt was necessary, without spending lavishly.
“The money that was spent was money that was necessary. It was used just to hire transport to travel around, and we were not living luxuriously. We were eating whatever was given to us wherever we went to and many other African countries were very generous, they provided us accomodation and so on,” added Raila.
Raila was making his first address on losing the AUC elections at his coming home celebrations after enduring months of campaigning outside the country.
Last Tuesday, DCI detectives interrogated MP Koimburi before releasing him on a cash bail of Ksh200,000. He faced six charges related to forgery and presenting false documents.
Meanwhile, in Mombasa, Raila expressed his gratitude to President William Ruto and other lawmakers for their significant support before the elections, stating "Now I'm delighted to be back home."
"I feel very happy and delighted to be back in Kenya. I want to thank everybody, the President, the deputy, the ministers and leaders, and Kenyans generally who travelled with us on this journey," he remarked.
He revealed that "I am available to help the continent of Africa but more importantly, I am also available for Kenya. I will consult widely and in due course announce the way forward shortly. Watch this space, I will be talking again."
Raila was eliminated in narrow circumstances at the sixth round, leaving Mahamoud with an open road to victory in the AUC elections, and making him the seventh African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson since its establishment in 2002. The other candidate, Richard Randriamandrato of Madagascar, finished last.
Youssouf secured victory in the seventh round after Raila was eliminated, earning 33 votes to claim the seat for the next four years, meeting the required two-thirds majority.
