Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna claims that Raila Odinga’s candidature at the African Union Commission silenced government critics for fear of losing support from other countries.

Speaking on Citizen TV on Thursday, Sifuna has explained why the opposition party maintained silence amidst several atrocities in the country during campaigns for AUC chairmanship campaign period.

“After Besigye was extradited from Nairobi and sent back to Uganda.  I am glad that this AU thing is behind us now so that we can speak a few truths because there are people who have been trying to gag us that I cannot condemn the abduction of Besigye because Museveni will not vote for me,” said Sifuna.

Sifuna expressed his frustration and how he had to confront ODM party leader Raila Odinga about the silence of the party.

“We told Raila that just because he was running for AU, we did not suspend our constitution,” he added.

Sifuna opined that President William Ruto’s move to support Raila was a test of the country’s foreign policy.

“We have failed everything after Ruto messed up both internal and foreign affairs. As long as the candidate was being fronted by a regime that is being perceived to have bad manners on the global stage then it was obvious it was going to rub off on the candidate. If you look at the positions that Raila ever took and the sponsoring state, they were at odds,” he added.

Mixed reactions have been expressed since Odinga lost the AUC chairmanship bid to the Djibouti candidate. 

President Ruto fully supported his proposed through mobilisation of state resources into the bid.

Kisumu senator Tom Ojienda on his part blamed geopolitical issues on Odinga’s loss of election.

“The split of SADC block because of the M23 question, Gaza, francophone and Islamic question are the things that played and it’s sad. Perhaps if the votes would have taken place a month or two from now Raila would have won,” Ojienda opined.

Third Way Party leader Okuru Aukot on his take blamed the president for fronting Odinga’s candidate for the position further tainting his reputation.

“Raila is now recognized as the person with the most record of undisputed loser in many elections, both at home and away,” said Aukot.

Aukot also reiterated the weak diplomatic relations in the country blaming the top leadership.

“Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei on the SADC letter response coming just before election, that was a big blunder, taking a pro-Israel stance on Gaza when everybody is saying what’s happening in Gaza is genocide,” Aukot highlighted some of the issues that flopped the elections.

Odinga lost to Djibouti’s Mahamoud Ali Youssouf on Saturday after a highly contested election process.