Annan meets Raila and Kibaki over deadlock
Talks seeking to end Kenya’s post-election crisis ended in a stalemate on Monday after Government and ODM negotiators failed to agree on the role and powers of the proposed prime minister. And last evening, chief mediator Kofi Annan said it was now up to President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to resolve the deadlock. He said that the negotiators had done their part in the talks and were incapable “of resolving the outstanding issues”. “I am now asking party leaders Raila Odinga and President Kibaki to do theirs,” he said in a statement issued last evening after meeting both Mr Odinga and the President.
Earlier in the day, the Government and ODM negotiators declared that there was no need for more meetings and asked Mr Annan to reach out to President Kibaki and Mr Odinga before the talks can resume. The deadlock also dashed the hopes of Kenyans who had been expecting the two sides in the conflict to strike a deal this week to end the violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed and an estimated 350,000 displaced. And last evening, ODM secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o said the party had given the police a three-day notice for countrywide mass action to begin on Thursday if the talks do not yield results.
The negotiating teams had reconvened for the talks yesterday after a weekend of consultations with their principals over the wording of a draft Act aimed at giving the coalition and the prime minister’s position a legal basis. However, when they emerged from the meeting at 1pm, it became clear that they had not reached an agreement. The Government team of Cabinet ministers Martha Karua, Sam Ongeri, Moses Wetang’ula and Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo went straight into a meeting with President Kibaki at Harambee House.
Said Mr Kilonzo: “We have isolated a number of issues, over which we felt the chairman should hold consultations with our principals. We have also exchanged items on how the coalition should be brought into existence… we are making progress.”
And, speaking for ODM, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, said: “We are unable to agree on any of the outstanding issues and they have been referred to the principals in the hope that they will be able to thrash them out.”
Sabatia MP Musalia Mudavadi, who is also part of the ODM team, hinted that the talks may resume today. Other ODM negotiators are MPs Sally Kosgei and James Orengo.
What the negotiators from both sides did not reveal was that the negotiators had failed to agree on key issues, including the contents of the draft Act of Parliament that will bring the coalition into existence; the powers of the PM; and sharing of Cabinet positions. It emerged that the Government side went into the meeting with a new proposal for a draft Act of Parliament different from the one that the teams were given on Friday by Mr Annan for further consultations with their bosses.
According to the draft law, both sides had agreed on how the proposed coalition was to be dissolved; creating the post of premier and the role he would play in the coalition. The negotiators were to seek clear instructions from their bosses on sharing of Cabinet positions and extra powers for the PM and whether an election would follow the collapse of the coalition. They were also to consult on whether the agreement would be passed as an Act of Parliament or it would be anchored in the Constitution.
Yesterday, Government negotiators came up with yet another draft Act — the Establishment of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister’s Act 2008 — which gave the President the powers to appoint a PM from among the ministers he has named in his Cabinet in line with Sections 16, 17 and 23 of the Constitution.
According to the draft, the premier will be accountable to the President and his duties will be to coordinate the performance of government ministries and to perform any other duties assigned by the President.
PNU negotiators argued that it will be easier to create the PM through an Act of Parliament. Such an example, they stated, exists in Rwanda. In line with this, they said Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura would retain the job of coordinating the work of permanent secretaries. This, it was understood, was to ensure that the powers of the President were not diluted.
The Government also said the President will take into account the details of the agreement when he makes Cabinet appointments.
The position went against the earlier proposal to share Cabinet posts on a 50:50 basis. ODM negotiators rejected this option and insisted that they must get half of the Cabinet slots. They left the issue to Mr Annan who was to consult President Kibaki and Mr Odinga. ODM negotiators have argued that sharing of power meant that the premier must be given the power to supervise the functions of ministries. They also argued that appointment of the premier through a Gazzette notice, as done with ministers, was unacceptable because the holder of the office would not enjoy security of tenure and could be fired any time by the President.
The ODM team also said that the new draft Act had left out the proviso that the premier should be the leader of the party with majority of MPs in the House, which would ensure that ODM gets the seat. They also argued that the Act had failed to point out that both parties were committed to constitutional, legal and institutional reforms within 12 months. They pointed out that the proposed law should be about a new constitutional dispensation and not just about creating the offices of the prime minister and his two deputies. They also said that the experts seconded to a working group led by former UN legal expert Hans Correll had recommended that the Act creating the coalition should be through a constitutional amendment and not a statute or a Gazette notice.
The ODM team were also incensed by the move to retain the President’s final say on Cabinet appointments, arguing that names of nominees could easily be changed. In the earlier draft by the working group, it had been stated clearly that the leader of each party in the coalition will pick the MPs to be appointed Cabinet ministers and his list could not be changed except without his consent.
The new draft allowed the President to appoint any of the nominees.
The two sides also differed on the proposal that the prime minister’s office falls vacant immediately a new constitution is enacted. ODM had argued that it should retain the seat until the coalition collapses.
It also emerged that the Government team had also tabled a draft agreement on the coalition. The agreement was to determine how the parties would work together in Parliament and how they would resolve disputes among other issues. It covered diverse issues including membership of the coalition, the aims of the expanded coalition, its policies and principles.
Some of the key pillars in the draft were that each party act in good faith in the interest of national unity and reconciliation. The draft also proposed that Vision 2030 be used to guide the coalition’s policies and that appointments be guided by the Public Officer Ethics Act.
Daily Nation
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