Annan: Kenya solution not about Kibaki or Raila
Mediator Kofi Annan has warned that a resolution of Kenya’s disputed presidential poll will not be about individuals as the parties begun discussing crucial political issues today. Speaking when he met company chief executives before today’s session of the talks started, Mr Annan said the mediation process between the Government/Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement will focus on building of strong institutions and not on individuals.
The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation team which he is facilitating will be working on possibilities of coming up with a whole package whose key pillars will be land and constitutional reforms as well as ways and means to fight poverty.
“Resolving of the current crisis is not about individuals. It is not about Honourable Raila Odinga or President (Mwai) Kibaki but about strong institutions that will ensure the country will not have to return back to this kind of crisis every couple of years,” Mr Annan said.
Mr Annan said both PNU and ODM party leaders will be expected to mobilise their MPs to push the necessary legislation through Parliament.
He is optimistic that once this is achieved, the country will be able to move out of the current crisis.
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph warned political leaders that there might be no country to govern or any businesses to tax if they do not work to ensure peace and stability in the country.
Mr Joseph called on Kenyans to exert pressure on their leaders to guarantee peace in the country.
The CEOs Forum organised by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and sponsored by both Safaricom and General Motors worked on a draft document that was expected to be presented to the major political parties and their leaders as well as the Dialogue and Reconciliation team as the way forward.
Kenya was thrown into a political crisis that has lasted over a month now when the December 27 presidential election was disputed with many observers describing the tallying of the votes as flawed. Though the Electoral Commission declared President Kibaki the winner, his opponent Raila Odinga of ODM accused the incumbent of rigging.
At the same time, both the PNU and the ODM have now formally added a negotiator each to the mediation process.
Foreign Affairs minister Mr Moses Wetangula joins the Government side with ODM has brought in Ugenya MP James Orengo.
Mr Annan welcomed the two to the talks at the start of today’s session in the morning, according to a statement by the spokesman for the process, Mr Nasser Ega-Musa.
Mr Ega-Musa also said the two other members of the Panel of Eminent African Personalities leading the National Dialogue, Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, and Benjamin Mkapa, the former President of Tanzania, are scheduled to arrive back in Nairobi today to rejoin the talks.
Daily Nation
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