Racing for the skies:

Two Anglophone career gurus battle for AU job

Churchill Ewumbue-Monono and Paul NjukangTasong are among the eight Cameroonian candidates vying for the post of Commissioner of the African Union-AU

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde

Churchill Ewumbue-Monono

Churchill Ewumbue-Monono and Paul NjukangTasong are competing in elections for the posts of Political Affairs Commissioner and Economic Affairs Commissioner respectively of the African Union AU. The other Cameroonian candidates in the race include Victor Emmanuel Djoumatchoua vying for the post of Deputy Chairman of the AU Commission; former Police Boss Emmanuel Edou running for the post of Commissioner for Peace and Security; former Minister of Higher Education Prof. Maurice Tchuente running for Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology; Francois EkangaEkoko vying for Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture and Dr. Mrs. Justine DeffoTchunkam who is eyeing the post of Commissioner for Social Affairs.

                The eight Cameroonian candidates are among the 42 candidates from 16 countries retained to compete for the 10 available positions at the AU Commission. The 10 positions include the post of Chairperson of the AU Commission, Deputy Chairperson and eight Commissioners in charge of different portfolios.

                The candidatures were screened by an independent panel of consultants hired by the AU’s ministerial panel on elections. The screening took into consideration such criteria as education, technical competence, experience, gender, leadership, personal achievement and vision and strategy.

                It should be mentioned however, that, while some Cameroonian candidates were rated highly after the assessment by the independent panel of consultants, others scored low. Churchill Monono and Maurice Tchuente for example scored above 70 points on 100 and were ranked second and third respectively in their respective clusters.

                It is feared that the chances of those candidates who did not score good marks might have been compromised, as it is unlikely that they will be voted by the heads of state and government during their next ordinary summit billed for Kigali, Rwanda, in July this year. 

                Intriguing also is the fact that of the eight Cameroonian candidates in the race only one or even none may eventually be elected. This is because by virtue of the AU’s rule of procedure the 10 available positions in the Commission are distributed equally among the five regions of the African continent, with each region sharing 2 posts.

Thus, with a Chadian lady already occupying the post of Commissioner for Trade and Industry (and it is likely she will be given a second mandate), only one post is now available for grabs by the eight Cameroonians and one Burundian from the Central African region.

                What’s more, the candidates from Central Africa will compete in elections for the post of commissioner only if the Equato-Guinean candidate vying for the post of Chairperson of the Commission is not elected, as it is likely to happen in Kigali. It should be recalled that only very recently the Gabonese, Jean Ping, was Chairperson of the AU Commission for two successive mandates (4x2 years). It is therefore unlikely that the heads of state would plebiscite another Central African candidate as chairperson, especially giving that East Africa is presenting a candidate for the post that is, MrsWandiraKazibwe from Uganda.

                Though we could not immediately ascertain whether or not there is a rule that calls for rotation of the post of Chairperson from one region to the other, we however understand that it will only be rational and gentlemanly for the 54 heads of member states of the AU to plebiscite the Ugandan woman to replace outgoing Mrs. Zuma from South Africa as Chairperson of the Pan-African organisation.

                So, as the countdown to the AU Summit in Kigali, in July 2016 narrows, the ministerial panel on elections has already circulated the list of retained candidates for the various positions and their CVs to the foreign affairs ministries of all the member states of the organization. This is in application of article 36(3) of the rules of procedure and article 16(1) of the statutes of the AU Commission which require that the list of candidates is circulated at least three months to the summit this, to make sure that the Heads of State and government already have an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates before the elections are called during the summit. The circulation of the list of candidates also permits for different regions and/or countries to lobby for different positions ahead of the Summit, it is understood.

                As for the two Anglophone candidates, it can not be immediately predicted who of them will eventually sail through especially given that they are both success stories in their respective careers and with oustanding academic pedigree and work experience.

                You may want to know that Churchill Monono was trained as a journalist and as a diplomat. A Minister Plenipotentiary, he worked in the African Union during the years of its transformation from the former OAU to present day AU. Monono has also worked at the Cameroon Embassies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and in Moscow, Russia respectively. He is presently technical adviser at the cabinet of the president of the republic in Etoudi, Yaounde.

                For his part, Paul Tasong is a senior inspector of taxes and holds a Masters degree in Public Management from Belgium. He was formerly the Director of Programming of Investments at the MINEFI and later the Secretary General of the MINEPAT. He currently works at CEMAC where he is commissioner.