Tuesday, February 19, 2008
ODM wants ECK disbanded
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has demanded that a new team be appointed at the Electoral Commission of Kenya before the pending by-elections are held. Party leaders Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi and Najib Blala said that the commission was to blame for the chaos that has rocked the country and that voters had lost faith in it following what they (the leaders) called its mishandling of the disputed December 2007 elections. Said Mr Balala: “The ECK team should resign so that its officials are investigated.” Mr Odinga also demanded that the current commissioners ‘‘should not organise or supervise any of the forthcoming by-elections.’’ The leaders were addressing thousands of mourners who turned up for Embakasi MP Melitus Were’s burial in Budalangi at which one of the MP’s widows was barred from viewing her husband’s remains.
Nigerian diplomat jets in as peace talks resume
Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji from Nigeria is expected to arrive today to assist former UN chief Kofi Annan in the mediation efforts. Mr Adeniji is a former Nigerian minister and UN official. And Government and ODM negotiators yesterday held an informal meeting to prepare for the official resumption of the mediation talks today.
Government representatives, Cabinet ministers Martha Karua, Sam Ongeri and Moses Wetangula, and MP Mutula Kilonzo met ODM’s Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, James Orengo and Sally Kosgei in the absence of Mr Annan. And the African chapter of the Human Rights Watch has said a political agreement in Kenya was a step forward, but politicians must take immediate steps to ensure accountability for human rights violations for further negotiations to build lasting stability.
Reforms could see the return of powerful PM
The executive Prime Minister’s office, abolished on December 12, 1964 when Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya’s first President, is now inevitable if a political settlement out of the impasse is to be reached, The Standard has learnt. It is understood to be behind the inordinate delay in striking a deal because of its far-reaching political implications. Sources say it is also the reason for the unrelenting pressure by the international community backing power sharing “as it’s the most viable option in such an arrangement”. “We can make the amendments to make the fundamental changes in order to achieve a political settlement,” Mr Raila Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said last night.