Rwanda President Paul Kagame sharply criticized the African Union’s recent appointment of a new director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, claiming the selection process was excessively secretive.
In February, Congolese medical doctor Jean Kaseya was appointed to lead the pan-African public health agency during the AU’s annual summit of heads of state and government. But changes to the AU’s recruitment processes to make them more “effective, efficient and transparent” were not adhered to in the lead-up to the appointment, Kagame wrote in a letter to Azali Assoumani, president of the Union of Comoros and the new chairperson of the AU.
There was no debate allowed about which of the finalists should take on the role, even though three countries requested to speak about this, Kagame wrote. He added that this was the only agenda item during the summit where the debate was not allowed.
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
