HARARE – Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Monday to canvass Zimbabwe’s support for his ambition to be elected African Union Commission chairperson next month.

Since announcing his candidature for the top job, Odinga has been visiting leaders around the continent to seek their support.

Odinga, who recently abandoned his unyielding drive to be elected Kenyan President, has been on a whirlwind tour of African countries to push his candidature .

The 80-year-old politician will be facing Mahmoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti and Richard Randriamandrato of Madagascar in the February election.

He is set to tour 10 SADC member states. Mnangagwa chairs the regional bloc.

Speaking to the media soon after meeting President Mnangagwa at State House on Monday, Odinga said he was touring Zimbabwe first as it is the current chair of SADC.

“The President of Zimbabwe is also the current chair of SADC. So, it was so important to come to Harare. So, we have shared experiences with my brother the President here; we know where we are coming from and we know where we want to go,” said the veteran politician.

He added, “Africa can only be developed by Africans themselves. Foreigners only come to Africa to make money. They don’t come to develop Africa.

“Africans have a clear roadmap and blueprint on how to develop Africa. We have got 55 states in Africa; we are looking at how these countries can be integrated so that we benefit from the resources that we have in our continent.

“Africa is the richest continent on the planet earth. The paradox that the richest is also the poorest comes from the living conditions of its people but we say that we can change this by doing value addition to the raw materials that we have on the continent.”

It is not the first time Odinga has been to Zimbabwe.

As then Kenyan Prime Minister, the Zimbabwe opposition ally flew into the country in April 2011 to attend the official opening of the then Morgan Tsvangirai led MDC-T national congress in Bulawayo.

He found time to pay a courtesy call on then President Robert Mugabe at State House.

Odinga was also in Zimbabwe in February 2018 to attend Tsvangirai’s funeral.