Kenyan PM promotes political marriage of necessity

Kenyan PM promotes political marriage of necessity
6 days ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Tuesday he and President Mwai Kibaki were trying to guard against a repeat of the ethnic violence that ravaged Kenya earlier this year by making their partnership work.
"We are very conscious of the fact that this will only work if signals come very positive from the top," Odinga said of Kenya's coalition government, inaugurated exactly two months ago.
Asked about the level of trust and cooperation between the former foes-turned-partners, Odinga said it was no love affair but motivated by a keen political interest in making it work.
"If we have shown unity here, we can demand unity down the line," Odinga said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Kenya plunged into what Odinga called "an abyss of turbulence and mayhem" after incumbent Kibaki was declared the winner of December presidential polls, and Odinga, the pre-election frontrunner, accused him of rigging a victory.
Nationwide protests ensued and rapidly deteriorated into a cycle of ethnic battles and revenge killings that left at least 1,500 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The chaos ended with a February 28 power-sharing deal brokered by former UN chief Kofi Annan which saw Kibaki keep his job and Odinga take the helm of a coalition cabinet.
Since then, the rival camps have wrangled on a range of issues, notably over an amnesty for dozens of Kenyans detained in connection with the post-poll violence.
Asked about that issue, Odinga said it had been agreed that those who merely participated in demonstrations but were detained on "trumped up charges" should be released, while those guilty of "murder, arson and rape" and those in the security forces who "shot to kill" should be brought to justice.
Odinga said Kenya hoped to create a truth and reconciliation commission along the lines of South Africa's, in an effort to repair the country's tattered social fabric.
Kenya was also attempting to address deep-seated inequalities that fueled the violence through wide-ranging reforms that would devolve power and resources "away from the center," Odinga promised.
In an update on the refugee situation, Odinga said about a third of the estimated 300,000 people displaced by the violence remained in camps, because their homes were destroyed or they feel unsafe going back.
Nairobi was still seeking 300 million dollars from international donors out of the total 500 million dollar resettlement cost, he added.
"We face a very difficult 12 months ahead," struggling to ensure food security while attempting to deliver promised reforms, including a new constitution by April next year, Odinga said.
"President Kibaki and I are aware that we cannot do everything overnight," he said.
But he described the coalition government as a "pioneering experiment" and "a first on the African continent," suggesting it could be used as a model for other countries.
"We are determined to show that in Africa a country can rise from crisis like in Kenya and move toward prosperity," he said.

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