MESSAGE: ODM stands by Eldoret North legislator as Kofi Annan and US ambassador tell President Kibaki to recognise ODM as equal partner in the coalition
President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga have been told to make hard choices and form a coalition government without any further mischief as a new wave of disagreements between their parties took on the character of who is ‘clean’ enough to be appointed to the new Cabinet.
A fire-spitting ODM yesterday claimed the latest demand by the PNU hard-liners was a gimmick designed to divert attention from “real power-sharing and portfolio balance” stipulated in the Accord between Kibaki and Odinga to a clean Cabinet and defeat ODM’s position for a lean government.
“There will be no legitimate government without William Ruto…ODM is rock solid and we are standing with brother William whom we will work with in the Cabinet despite their (PNU’s) machinations,” said ODM Pentagon member Najib Balala, who was flanked by 30 party MPs.
And even as details emerged that President Kibaki and Raila were set for another round of talks tomorrow, the man who brokered the power-sharing deal, Mr Kofi Anaan, expressed concern over the delay to form the grand coalition government as agreed in the Accord signed on February 28.
In a statement issued from Geneva and read on his behalf by Nasser Ega-Musa, Annan said he was seriously concerned by the two parties’ failure to compose and announce a coalition cabinet and urged President Kibaki and Raila to make definite decisions for the sake of the nation.
Annan said the peace deal requires that both PNU and ODM become equal partners through Cabinet portfolio balance. “The Cabinet should be shared equally with appropriate portfolio balance, thus allowing each party to feel itself playing an equal role as the other partner,” said Annan.
As Annan issued his statement, United States ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, issued his government’s position, stating that real power-sharing means that the two partners share equally the vital portfolios for the coalition to succeed.
At a media briefing at his Muthaiga residence, Ranneberger insisted that a 34-member coalition Cabinet being favoured by Raila is “good enough” compared to President Kibaki’s proposal of 44 ministries.
Said he: “34 ministries is a bit large but good enough. We are not dictating on the size of the Cabinet, but we have a situation where the country needs to rebuild. If you increase the ministries, it is going to cost money that could have otherwise been used for public service.”
The Ambassador also cautioned the President and his allies against the temptation to vet ODM’s nominees to the cabinet, a development he said could generate sentiments that specific regions were being excluded from the coalition government owing to their involvement in the post-election violence.
Both Ranneberger and Annan urged President Kibaki and Raila to urgently thrash out the contentious issues and proceed to form the much anticipated coalition government.
The two sides are haggling over who gets what ministry, how big the Cabinet should be and in the latest contentious issue, the PNU top brass argue that the President has the right to vet ministers based on their records.
And Balala and his team maintained that the PNU has no moral authority to demand the vetting of its nominees.
In a show of solidarity with Mr Ruto, more than 30 ODM MPs who attended an international news conference at Parliament Buildings said there will be no legitimate Government without the Eldoret North MP in the Cabinet.
Balala charged that PNU cannot vet ODM nominees for integrity since the present Cabinet under control of the former comprises architects of mega corruption scandals like Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg.
He said the latest demand by the PNU was a scheme to divert attention from “real power-sharing and portfolio balance” stipulated in the Accord between Kibaki and Odinga to a clean Cabinet and defeat ODM’s position for a lean government.
“There will be no legitimate government without William Ruto…….ODM is rock solid and we are standing with brother William whom we will work with in the Cabinet despite their machinations,” he said. And in Meru, MPs allied to Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) yesterday demanded that the President vets ODM nominees to ensure the Cabinet is composed of individuals of high integrity and clean records.
Five MPs allied to the party said individuals implicated in corruption and human rights abuses should not be included in the new Cabinet. But the ODM immediately read malice in the latest demand by a section of PNU, saying it targets Pentagon member and Eldoret North MP, William Ruto, whom President Kibaki’s functionaries link to the post election violence.
The party also accused President Kibaki of delaying the naming of a new Cabinet to allegedly cover up widespread looting by his allies ahead of the last General Election.
Addressing a press conference at a hotel in Embu town, the PNU MPs also demanded that individuals facing criminal charges in court be excluded from the expected Cabinet.
The MPs, Lenny Kivuti (Siakago), Emilio Kathuri (Manyatta), Peter Munya (Tigania East), Ntoitha M’mthiaru (Igembe North) and Linturi Mithika (Igembe South) said past and present records of possible appointees to the cabinet be availed for public scrutiny to enhance transparency and accountability in leadership.
Mr Munya was categorical that Mr Ruto has been implicated in corruption related cases and recent post election skirmishes and insisted that the Eldoret North MP be cleared of the charges first before being appointed to the Cabinet.
At Parliament Buildings, ODM’s Jakoyo Midiwo took issue with the continued linking of Ruto and Rift Valley Province to financiers and executors of post election killings, saying MPs who received letters from various foreign embassies threatening to cancel their travel visas were known to have fund-raised money to finance Mungiki militias who killed people in Naivasha.
“Why continue speaking of the burning of a church in Eldoret and not the burning of children in Naivasha? We know of a senior Cabinet minister who is the Goldenberg architect; two others directly implicated in the Anglo Leasing while another one who has been named as the financier of Mungiki.
Who is Transcentury? Who is Mobitelea? We know them and the reason Kibaki does not want to name a grand coalition cabinet is because they are busy covering up the looting they did during the last election. “ Indeed one of the senior ministers belongs to jail as we speak.
In 2003, former cabinet minister Chris Murungaru used Peter Munya to claim that former Chief Justice Bernard Chunga, former Police Commissioner Edwin Nyaseda and several others were corrupt to bundle them out of office. To date the officers are on interdiction,” alleged Midiwo.
The five MPs allied to the PNU, however, insisted that only a court of law or an independently constituted body could clear Mr Ruto of allegations against him.
They further took issue with Ruto’s recent call for fresh elections should President Kibaki and Mr Odinga fail to agree on the composition of the Cabinet.
They said the call was in bad taste and against the spirit of national reconciliation and peace accord signed to end two months of post election violence that greeted the disputed presidential polls.
ODM’s Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery claimed that the delay in naming of the cabinet was a scheme to create panic procurement and hasty contract signing so that by the time new ODM ministers take office, they will get shell ministries.
“We demand that before a coalition cabinet is put in place, there should be no signing of any contracts or procurement,” said Nkaissery
President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga have been told to make hard choices and form a coalition government without any further mischief as a new wave of disagreements between their parties took on the character of who is ‘clean’ enough to be appointed to the new Cabinet.
A fire-spitting ODM yesterday claimed the latest demand by the PNU hard-liners was a gimmick designed to divert attention from “real power-sharing and portfolio balance” stipulated in the Accord between Kibaki and Odinga to a clean Cabinet and defeat ODM’s position for a lean government.
“There will be no legitimate government without William Ruto…ODM is rock solid and we are standing with brother William whom we will work with in the Cabinet despite their (PNU’s) machinations,” said ODM Pentagon member Najib Balala, who was flanked by 30 party MPs.
And even as details emerged that President Kibaki and Raila were set for another round of talks tomorrow, the man who brokered the power-sharing deal, Mr Kofi Anaan, expressed concern over the delay to form the grand coalition government as agreed in the Accord signed on February 28.
In a statement issued from Geneva and read on his behalf by Nasser Ega-Musa, Annan said he was seriously concerned by the two parties’ failure to compose and announce a coalition cabinet and urged President Kibaki and Raila to make definite decisions for the sake of the nation.
Annan said the peace deal requires that both PNU and ODM become equal partners through Cabinet portfolio balance. “The Cabinet should be shared equally with appropriate portfolio balance, thus allowing each party to feel itself playing an equal role as the other partner,” said Annan.
As Annan issued his statement, United States ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, issued his government’s position, stating that real power-sharing means that the two partners share equally the vital portfolios for the coalition to succeed.
At a media briefing at his Muthaiga residence, Ranneberger insisted that a 34-member coalition Cabinet being favoured by Raila is “good enough” compared to President Kibaki’s proposal of 44 ministries.
Said he: “34 ministries is a bit large but good enough. We are not dictating on the size of the Cabinet, but we have a situation where the country needs to rebuild. If you increase the ministries, it is going to cost money that could have otherwise been used for public service.”
The Ambassador also cautioned the President and his allies against the temptation to vet ODM’s nominees to the cabinet, a development he said could generate sentiments that specific regions were being excluded from the coalition government owing to their involvement in the post-election violence.
Both Ranneberger and Annan urged President Kibaki and Raila to urgently thrash out the contentious issues and proceed to form the much anticipated coalition government.
The two sides are haggling over who gets what ministry, how big the Cabinet should be and in the latest contentious issue, the PNU top brass argue that the President has the right to vet ministers based on their records.
And Balala and his team maintained that the PNU has no moral authority to demand the vetting of its nominees.
In a show of solidarity with Mr Ruto, more than 30 ODM MPs who attended an international news conference at Parliament Buildings said there will be no legitimate Government without the Eldoret North MP in the Cabinet.
Balala charged that PNU cannot vet ODM nominees for integrity since the present Cabinet under control of the former comprises architects of mega corruption scandals like Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg.
He said the latest demand by the PNU was a scheme to divert attention from “real power-sharing and portfolio balance” stipulated in the Accord between Kibaki and Odinga to a clean Cabinet and defeat ODM’s position for a lean government.
“There will be no legitimate government without William Ruto…….ODM is rock solid and we are standing with brother William whom we will work with in the Cabinet despite their machinations,” he said. And in Meru, MPs allied to Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) yesterday demanded that the President vets ODM nominees to ensure the Cabinet is composed of individuals of high integrity and clean records.
Five MPs allied to the party said individuals implicated in corruption and human rights abuses should not be included in the new Cabinet. But the ODM immediately read malice in the latest demand by a section of PNU, saying it targets Pentagon member and Eldoret North MP, William Ruto, whom President Kibaki’s functionaries link to the post election violence.
The party also accused President Kibaki of delaying the naming of a new Cabinet to allegedly cover up widespread looting by his allies ahead of the last General Election.
Addressing a press conference at a hotel in Embu town, the PNU MPs also demanded that individuals facing criminal charges in court be excluded from the expected Cabinet.
The MPs, Lenny Kivuti (Siakago), Emilio Kathuri (Manyatta), Peter Munya (Tigania East), Ntoitha M’mthiaru (Igembe North) and Linturi Mithika (Igembe South) said past and present records of possible appointees to the cabinet be availed for public scrutiny to enhance transparency and accountability in leadership.
Mr Munya was categorical that Mr Ruto has been implicated in corruption related cases and recent post election skirmishes and insisted that the Eldoret North MP be cleared of the charges first before being appointed to the Cabinet.
At Parliament Buildings, ODM’s Jakoyo Midiwo took issue with the continued linking of Ruto and Rift Valley Province to financiers and executors of post election killings, saying MPs who received letters from various foreign embassies threatening to cancel their travel visas were known to have fund-raised money to finance Mungiki militias who killed people in Naivasha.
“Why continue speaking of the burning of a church in Eldoret and not the burning of children in Naivasha? We know of a senior Cabinet minister who is the Goldenberg architect; two others directly implicated in the Anglo Leasing while another one who has been named as the financier of Mungiki.
Who is Transcentury? Who is Mobitelea? We know them and the reason Kibaki does not want to name a grand coalition cabinet is because they are busy covering up the looting they did during the last election. “ Indeed one of the senior ministers belongs to jail as we speak.
In 2003, former cabinet minister Chris Murungaru used Peter Munya to claim that former Chief Justice Bernard Chunga, former Police Commissioner Edwin Nyaseda and several others were corrupt to bundle them out of office. To date the officers are on interdiction,” alleged Midiwo.
The five MPs allied to the PNU, however, insisted that only a court of law or an independently constituted body could clear Mr Ruto of allegations against him.
They further took issue with Ruto’s recent call for fresh elections should President Kibaki and Mr Odinga fail to agree on the composition of the Cabinet.
They said the call was in bad taste and against the spirit of national reconciliation and peace accord signed to end two months of post election violence that greeted the disputed presidential polls.
ODM’s Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery claimed that the delay in naming of the cabinet was a scheme to create panic procurement and hasty contract signing so that by the time new ODM ministers take office, they will get shell ministries.
“We demand that before a coalition cabinet is put in place, there should be no signing of any contracts or procurement,” said Nkaissery
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