Eyes on Kenya

ACTING TOGETHER FOR KENYA: AGREEMENT ON THE PRINCIPLES OF PARTNERSHIP OF THE COALITION GOVERNMENT.

Preamble:

The crisis triggered by the 2007 disputed presidential election has brought to the surface deep-seated and long-standing divisions within Kenyan society. If left unaddressed, these divisions threaten the very existence of Kenya as a unified country. The Kenyan people are now looking to their leaders to ensure that their country will not be lost.

Given the current situation, neither side can realistically govern the country without the other. There must be real power-sharing to move the country forward and begin the healing and reconciliation process.

With this agreement, we are stepping forward together, as political leaders, to overcome the current crisis and to set the country on a new path. As partners in a coalition government, we commit ourselves to work together in good faith as true partners, through constant consultation and willingness to compromise.

This agreement is designed to create an environment conducive to such a partnership and to build mutual trust and confidence. It is not about creating positions that reward individuals. It seeks to enable Kenya's political leaders to look beyond partisan considerations with a view to promoting the greater interests of the nation as a whole. It provides the means to implement a coherent and far-reaching reform agenda, to address the fundamental root causes of recurrent conflict, and to create a better, more secure, more prosperous Kenya for all.

To resolve the political crisis, and in the spirit of coalition and partnership, we have agreed to enact the National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008, whose provisions have been agreed upon in their entirety by the parties hereto and a draft copy is appended hereto.

Its key points are:

* There will be a Prime Minister of the Government of Kenya, with authority to coordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the Government of Kenya.

* The Prime Minister will be an elected member of the National Assembly and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition, if the largest party does not command a majority.

* Each member of the coalition shall nominate one person from the National Assembly to be appointed a Deputy Prime Minister.

* The Cabinet will consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and the other Ministers. The removal of any Minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.

* The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no confidence with a majority vote.

* The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.

* The coalition will be dissolved if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.

* The National Accord and Reconciliation Act shall be entrenched in the Constitution.

Having agreed on the critical issues above, we will now take this process to Parliament. It will be convened at the earliest moment to enact these agreements. This will be in the form of an Act of Parliament and the necessary amendment to the Constitution.

We believe by these steps we can together in the spirit of partnership bring peace and prosperity back to the people of Kenya who so richly deserve it.

Source: Reuters AlertNet 

President Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga Thursday signed a deal that will see them share power through the creation of a Prime Minister position.

The deal, brokered by Africa Union chairman President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Mr Kofi Annan, will see the creation of a grand coalition sharing power according to party strength in Parliament.

The deal provides that the PM will coordinate and supervise Ministers, while Cabinet positions will be shared proportionally according to party strength in Parliament.

The President will have the authority to sack Cabinet members, but only with written agreement from leaders of the respective coalition party.

The Cabinet will comprise the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers.

The coalition will collapse at the end of the current Parliament, or if the parties so agree, or if one partner withdraws.

The signing at Nairobi’s Harambee House was witnessed by diplomats and broadcast live on national television.

President Kibaki and Mr Odinga first signed the agreement, then President Kikwete and Mr Annan appended their signatures as witnesses.

The agreement was the result of a five-hour meeting chaired by President Kikwete involving Mr Annan, President Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

And this is how Kofi Anan explains the deal:

But let us not forget, how it sounded just some days ago:

Still, the coalition depends on the good will of the protagonists. It is a deal between Odinga and Kibaki, but there are many more characters who want their share of the deal. As soon as there is no Kofi Anan in Kenya anymore, the Coalition will become fragile. It all depends how much issues will be dealt with in next weeks before it comes into a standstill.

According to Standard : There could be (could have been) a real possibility, that the two rival groups are edging closer to a power sharing deal, understood to be the creation of the office of a Prime Minister and two deputies, even as the Presidency and the Vice Presidency are retained.

However, this seemingly positive development was overshadowed by statements by President Kibaki and Party of National Unity MPs and ministers, who appeared to pour cold water on real power sharing.
“It can’t be an illusion, power sharing must be real,” US Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice on Monday told PNU and ODM — the two protagonists in the disputed and discredited presidential election.

PNU opposed to PM Post
But on Tuesday, Government negotiators and MPs attending a PNU Parliamentary Group meeting fought the proposed power sharing and pushed for “accommodating or co-opting” ODM into Government. The MPs and President Kibaki appeared to speak in one voice as they argued against a quick power-sharing deal as pressed for by Rice in Nairobi.
The Government insisted that any deal must be worked out within the current Constitution, and any other arrangement would have to follow later through constitutional reforms.

It was understood that the Government side is set with its position to accommodate ODM into Government as opposed to an ODM proposal that wants a split of Cabinet positions and the creation of the post of an executive prime minister.
Lead negotiator, Kofi Annan, left the Serena Hotel in the heat of the stand-off and went to Harambee House mid afternoon for a scheduled meeting with President Kibaki. After President Kibaki’s meeting with Annan, State House issued a statement which avoided the mention of ‘power-sharing’ but which only said the President had assured Annan that he was ready to “share responsibilities” with ODM.

The President, however, cautioned that any political solution that will be proposed must be in tandem with the current Kenyan Constitution,” part of the PPS statement read.

Conclusion
It seems Kibaki is up in arms with manipulation as he did post-2002 elections when he refused to honour NARC’s memorandum of understanding. Whenever I listen to him speak about “ any deal must be worked out within the current Constitution, and any other arrangement would have to follow later through constitutional reforms” my hackles rise because there will never be constitutional reforms under Kibaki. To swallow this again from him would be like getting kicked in the face once an turning the other side for another kick while still lying on the ground.

I echo Rice’s statement that power-sharing cannot be an illusion, it must be real.

Kenyan novelist and play writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o published a comment today from the diaspora in the United States via BBC news. He compares the incident of the Eldoret church massacre with the massacres in Bosnia, Iraq and Rwanda. He then says that the “ethnic cleansing” must be separated from the accusations of a rigged election. To him it seems like a “co-ordinated program with similar acts occurring in several other places at about the same time against ordinary members of the same community.” He also says that Ethnic cleansing does not happen spontaneously, that it is almost always premeditated by members of the political elite, who usually do not have to suffer the consequences of their actions. He proposed an inquiry by the United Nations as necessary, that if political organizations have a “campaign on a program that consciously seeks to isolate another community as a community, then they ought to be held fully accountable for the consequences of their ideology and actions.” He continues to say that this should not only be the case if such is instigated by the government, but also if “such a massacre is inspired by a program of an opposition movement… “ He then says that they must be condemned “even when they (the campaigns) are clothed in progressive, democratic-sounding words and phrases.” In conclusion he urges “all progressive forces not to be so engrossed with the political wrongs of election tampering that they forget the crimes of hate and ethnic cleansing.”

Ngugi wa Thiong’o

We would like to add some remarks to Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s comment. We can not say that we could have foreseen what happened in post-election Kenya, not even after reading Ngugi’s novel “Wizard of the Crow”, “…where the ruling party and the opposition parities engaged in Western-sponsored democracy become mirror images of one another in their absurdity and indifference to the poor.”, as he writes. No doubt, it is a great novel with fitting reflections on Kenya’s and Africa’s political situation. But the book does not lift Ngugi wa Thiong’o to the position of the prophetess Cassandra as he implies. Despite the inadequateness of the Kenyan political Parties, one should take into account that ODM obtained so much support, because it was more likely to deliver the promised constitution. Of course, from the lookout of a prophetess, that might be very little, not bringing uhuru, not breaking the claw of the World Bank. But, decentralizing and sharing power, having control bodies against corruption, and elevation of human rights would have made a difference especially for the poor. Or in Binyavanga Wainaina’s words: “A Constitution that names and recognizes the tribal nations within our nation, that decentralizes some power and that includes us all in the process is possible.”

An 11-year-old survivor stands amid the burnt out ruins of the Kenya Assemblies of God Pentacostal church, where at least 18 people were burnt alive ,near Eldoret in western Kenya (from josephkaroki)

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Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf was one of the few persons capable to deliver a comical relief during a time of war, a time that almost by definition, is a time free of any humour. As the Iraqi Information Minister he became famous to the world as “Comical Ali”, with even T-shirt and cups being sold with his picture and his quotes. Even fan-sites were dedicated to him. On his daily press conferences he announced the military victories of the Iraqi army and the failure of the invasion, despite all evident facts. In his final speech as the Iraqi Information Minister he vociferated:

“There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!”,

with US infantry tanks almost in firing rang to where he was speaking. Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf was just the spokesperson of Sadam Hussein’s system, but he spoke the arrogant language of an elite that either was willing to lie beyond imagination, ignoring the fact that everyone is noticing those lies, or an elite that totally lost its own sense for reality. Either way, it was a system that had already lost everything, not willing to give up, no matter how many of their own people suffered or died.

“Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is a man of great honor and integrity. Everyone is encouraged to speak freely of the truths evidenced in their eyes and hearts.”

“because we will behead you all”

It seems that Kenya has found its “Comical Ali” in Dr. Alfred Mutua, spokesperson of Kibaki’s government. Even before the election he was known as a verbal acrobat, being cable of making long statements without any content, like:

“We are in the process of putting together a team of experts well versed in the necessary required areas so that they can join their counterparts from other countries participating in the inquiry,” (quote)

or “The reasons are confidential and are best known to the minister,”(quote)

But he was also very capable of agitating and attacking in the name of the government.

(c) by Gado

Since Kibaki swore himself into power, Alfred Mutua seemed to have put quite a distance between him and reality. First of all he denied that there were violent conflicts all over the country. With international media coverage and horrifying reports about Police brutality and ethnic clashes, he changed his mind and stated, that only about 3 percent of the country’s 34 million people were effected. “Kenya is not burning and not (in) the throes of any division.”(AP) Leaving aside that this number bares any facts and much more people were “effected” by the crises, Mutua did not seem to be much worried about the Kenyan people or he had a sever problem with arithmetics: 3 Percent of 34 Million is more than one Million people! Any crisis of this dimension would alert any government in the world.

But then his scale or the scale of the government he is speaking for is a different one:

“We have not yet reached a Somali like situation to allow mediators to come to our country,” he told at a news conference. (Nation)

Does this really mean the Kenyan people have to suffer to the extent a civil war and total anarchy, before this government will except mediation?

“What will they (international mediators) come and do that we have been unable to do as Kenyans?” (AP)

How about peace, Mr Mutua? The Kibaki government proved an incapability in handling the crisis on its own, neither could it provide safety to its people, nor could it provide humanitarian aid without millions of Dollars from the international community. With the almost total stand still of East-Africa’s economy and Ugandan military on high alert at Kenya’s border the conflict has reached an international dimension.

Many approaches to mediate have been made, and it was Alfred Mutua’s job to discredit everyone of them. Starting with honourable Desmond Tutu, about whom he said, that he is not invited by the government and is welcome as any other “tourist”.

Can someone, who speaks like this about the one of the few Nobel Peace Prize winners, who really deserves to be one for dedicating his life for Peace, Freedom and Unity in Africa, have anything else on his mind than civil war?

After Tutu nobody really expected that the effort by the African Union and its present President Kufuor would bring any results. Even before he came to Kenya, Mutua stated, that Deputy Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula travelled to Ghana to explain that

“the political and electoral situation in the country and that we are able to deal with criminals” to Kufuor. (source)

No, he is not referring to those who rigged the election as Criminals and bodies. Bodies pilled up in mortuaries, full of Police ammunition leave not doubt as to what Dr. Alfred Mutua is talking about.

Again Mutua denied that the AU would even try to mediate:

“They [Kufuor and Kibaki] are age-mates and friends and Kufuor is coming to have a cup of tea with him.” (Guardian)

What will he say about Kofi Annans intention? He has come to play cricket?

Let us not forget, that after all, he is nothing but a messenger. But he is delivering the news of a system, that shows no interest in Peace, a system that knows it will not sustain in a Democratic environment and can therefore show its infinitive arrogance of power. And as long as we see Dr. Alfred Mutua delivering those messages on TV, on radio or in newspapers, we can be sure that that Kenya is still in crisis.

Watching Kenya go up in flames is comparable to a house go up in flames? The initial reaction is always to put out the fire first or help the victims and only after the fire is out is the problem analysis done. Why are we doing it differently this time? Why start with the fingerpointing other than handling the problem at hand? Ethnic violence.

Many would want to say that the flawed election is the core source of all this but we all know that it was only a catalyst to an already existing problem.

Every one who calls themselves learned are saying that they cant shed blood. You know, stuff like “An, I CANT KILL YOU,NEVER!” I believe we are all responsible for what’s happening to Kenya in different ways.

Last year during the campaigns I was the office head of the PNU camp and my office mate the ODM camp and it being our first day at work this year we naturally started talking politics.

Since the election I have had this attitude that the whole electoral system needs an overhaul,rigging was done but we need to embrace peace since Kenya as a country is greater than any one of us. So that is the message I started preaching…you know not defending Kibaki or the ECK.

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