PNU's arrogance and Lust for BLOATED govt disrupts power-sharing deal = PART III

3. Stalemate: SETBACK: Kibaki, Raila talks on Cabinet positions in jeopardy as the leaders fail to agree on portfolio distribution http://kenyatimesonline.com/content.asp?catid=2&articleId=2328 Updated on: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Story by: Emmanuel Onyango .................................................................................................................................................................................... The historic power sharing deal signed by President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga that ended the country’s worst political stalemate was yesterday on the brink of collapse after the two leaders failed to agree on the distribution of Cabinet positions. In a marathon meeting convened at Harambee House, President Kibaki and Raila disagreed over the trickier aspects of the power sharing deal, including the fundamental structure of the coalition Cabinet, its size and the occupiers of a range of plum ministries. The debacle over portfolio balance was followed moments later by the surprise tabling of a supplementary motion by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to adjourn Parliament to April 15th. The motion for adjournment comes a week after Parliament had passed the twin crucial bills of that provided the necessary constitutional anchor for the formation of a grand coalition government . At the mid-morning meeting with the President, Raila is said to have pushed for the dissolution of the current Cabinet and a new one instituted to replace it in order to signify a new start for the nation. The President, however, is understood to have shot down the proposal with the counter-argument that additional ministries be created to accommodate the ODM brigade. In total, President Kibaki argued for the creation of a 44-member Cabinet. Raila is reported to have declined the offer on grounds that a bloated Cabinet will be a burden to an already over-stretched taxpayer. Instead, the ODM called for the retention of the current 34 ministries. The ODM leader, according to sources, further ceded ground for the President to retain all the powerful portfolios that fall under the Office of President including the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Raila also allowed President Kibaki to have the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Constitutional Affairs, EastAfrican Co-operation, Health, Roads, Lands and Settlement, Energy, Regional Development Authorities, Co-operative Development, Livestock Development and Fisheries, Labour, Gender and Social Services and Science and Technology Raila on the other hand, laid claim to the Ministries of Finance, Public Service and Provincial Administration and Local Authorities. But the proposal was rejected by President Kibaki who reportedly argued that the Public Service and Local Authorities must be seen to be working for the head of the government. Other ministries that ODM expressed interest in were Planning and National Development, Transport, Water Development and Irrigation, Information and Communication, Environment and Natural Resources, Tourism and Wildlife, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Immigration and Registartion of Persons, Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, Special Programmes, Housing and Public Works and National Heritage and Culture. President Kibaki, on the other hand proposed that PNU and its allied political parties be given the Ministries of Public Service, Local Government, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Defence, Internal Security and Provincial Administration, Home Affairs, Immigration and Registration of Persons. Others are the ministries of Housing, Transport, Information and Communication, Energy, Environment and Mining, Livestock Development, Trade, Development of Arid Lands, Nairobi Metropolitan Development, Implementation of Vision 2030, Women and Children Development, Science and Technology and Public Health. According to the President, ODM will be apportioned the Ministries of Roads, Public Works, Forestry and Wildlife, Tourism, Agriculture, Industrialization, Planning, East Africa Community, National Cohesion and Harmony, Water and Irrigation and Lands. Others are Fisheries Development, Co-operatives Development, Micro-entreprices, Special Programmes, Medical Services, Labour, National Heritage and Culture, Youth Affairs, Sports and Higher Education. Sources say PNU have proposed ODM to be allocated Ministries of East Africa Community, Planning, national Cohesion and Harmony, Roads, Public Works, Water and Irrigation, Lands, Forestry and Wildlife, Tourism, Agriculture, Fisheries Development, Cooperatives Development, Industrialization, Micro-Enterprises, Special Programmes, Medical services, Labour, National Heritage and Culture, Youth Affairs, Sports and Higher Education. The ODM leader, however, rejected the President’s proposals, saying they did not reflecet the principal of 50:50 power sharing. Further, he argued that the ministries being given to his party were split awkwardly and were mere ministerial departments. Raila also argued that President Kibaki was not taking cogniscence of the fact that he still has control over the Vice Presidency and the Attorney-General. Raila emerged from the Harambee House meeting and explained to journalists that further consultations were still necessary before the grand coalition government could be formed. He nevertheless acknowledged that some some ground had been covered. “The meeting with the President went uninterupted from 11 am and we have covevered some grounds. But more ground still needs to be covered,” Raila said and added: “We still need further consultation on the way forward. I do not know when we shall meet again.” The ODM leader confirmed the meeting had failed to reach consensus on the size of the grand coalition Cabinet, a core issue that was initially expected to have featured in the meeting’s agenda. “I don’t know yet the size of the Cabinet,” he told journalists as his motorcade drove off from the venue. A subsequent statement from the President’s Press Service confirmed that President Kibaki and Raila meeting dwelt on the formation of a new Cabinet and that consultation between the two are set to continue. “The talks were consultations on the implementation of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act that was passed in Parliament last week. The consultations also focused on the formation of the new cabinet,” the PPS statement said. However, moments after Raila had left Harambee house, ODM Executive Director Mohamed Isahakia wrote a formal letter to the Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura to declare that the party’s leaders will no longer acknowledge invitations to meet the President unless their demands for the three ministries- Finance, Local Authorities and Public Service- are met. The letter written and dispatched to Harambee House yesterday afternoon read in part: “The talks have become inconsequential due to the hardened positions on the part of some Government officials. We no longer find them necessary unless the demands raised by the ODM are reviewed and considered.” Isahakia also issued a warning that the party will resort to mass action and other forms of civil disobedience to push for there part of the power sharing bargain. And in late evening yesterday, Government spokeman Dr Alfred Mutua dispatched a statement to newsrooms in which he declared that the President will form the Cabinet as soon as the ODM team is ready. “The new Cabinet for a new Kenya will not be announced today (yesterday). The President is ready and will form the new Cabinet after further consultations with Raila Odinga, whenever the ODM team is ready. Kenyans are requested to remain patient on the knowledge that the new cabinet will be announced soon,” Dr Mutua said in the statement. The President’s hands, however, seem tied in the latest stalemate, with refusal to agree to the ODM demands likely to take away the international goodwill he received during the signing of the power sharing deal. Legally, he is also bound by the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act and the National Accord and Reconciliation Act which he accented and gazetted last week. The amendment to the Constitution provides that there shall in be a Prime Minister who shall be the parliamentary leader of the party with a majority of members in the National Assembly. Currently, the only person qualified for the post is Raila. Failure by the President therefore to appoint Raila for the post will be in breach of the Constitution. On the other hand, the National Accord and Reconcilition Act provides that the Presidnt consults with the leader of the party in coalition before he can procede to form the grand coalition Cabinet. The Act further stipulates that the composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.