Rice in Nairobi

 

Rice in Nairobi to push for deal

 

Ms Rice is the highest-ranking US official to visit since the election

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Kenya in an attempt to end the political crisis which has led to widespread unrest.

Ms Rice is expected to push President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to agree a deal to share power, following December's disputed election.

She will also hold talks with the lead mediator, former UN chief Kofi Annan.

On Friday, both sides agreed to set up an independent panel to review the vote, which Mr Odinga says was rigged.

The dispute has led to political and ethnic violence in which at least 1,000 people have been killed and 600,000 have fled their homes.

Ongoing mediation

Ms Rice became the highest-ranking US official to visit Kenya since the election on 27 December when she flew into Nairobi on Monday from neighbouring Tanzania, where she had been accompanying President George W Bush.

We encourage our friends to support us and not make any mistake of putting a gun to anybody's head and saying 'either/or', because that cannot work

Moses Wetangula
Kenyan Foreign Minister

The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi says it was hoped Ms Rice would arrive to endorse a decision taken by government and opposition negotiators to agree on a way out of the election crisis.

But the mediation process is still going on and the White House said she did not expect to come away with a "final deal", our correspondent says.

The talks are due to resume on Tuesday, after being adjourned last Thursday.

Considerable progress has been made but there is no agreement ready to be signed and there remains considerable opposition in the government to an imposed solution, he adds.

"We encourage our friends to support us and not make any mistake of putting a gun to anybody's head and saying 'either/or', because that cannot work," Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula warned on Sunday.

"Even if we get visitors to help us in any way possible, the answer to the problem in Kenya lies with Kenyans themselves."

Mr Bush had said he favoured a power-sharing deal at the start of his tour of Africa on Saturday, although he later stressed the US was looking only at "how best we can help the process".

Election panel

At the talks in Nairobi, Ms Rice is expected to discuss the progress made so far by mediation team led by Mr Annan.

Kofi Annan has said the two rivals are very close to a deal

On Friday, the former UN secretary general announced that the government and opposition had agreed to set up an independent panel, including Kenyan and non-Kenyan experts, to investigate "all aspects" of the disputed election.

The committee is due to start work on 15 March and submit its report within three to six months, he added.

"We are there, we are very close, we are moving steadily," Mr Annan said after two days of secret talks to end the crisis.

The government negotiator, Mutula Kilonzo, said on Thursday that the two sides had agreed to write a new constitution within a year.

Correspondents say this could pave the way for the creation of the post of prime minister, which Mr Odinga could take, although the opposition team said the issue of power-sharing needed to be resolved first.

Other details still reportedly needing to be worked out include the division of ministerial portfolios in any coalition.

Foreign diplomats have warned representatives of both sides of dire consequences if they scupper the process.

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Rice in Nairobi to push for deal

 

The Government and ODM have set their terms for Monday’s meeting with chief mediator Kofi Annan as top US diplomat is scheduled to arrive in the morning to push for  a power-sharing formula aimed at ending the political crisis.

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice walks out of Tanzania’s State House in Dar es Salaam on Sunday. She is expected to meet President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga in Nairobi on Monday and convey President George Bush’s message. Photo/ MPOKI BUKUKU

As public anxiety builds and international pressure intensifies, it has emerged that both sides in the political conflict are agreeable to a coalition government. The difference, however, lies in its structure and the powers of the President in the new arrangement.

On Sunday evening, Government and ODM negotiators were locked in briefing sessions with their principals to fine-tune the positions that would be placed before Mr Annan Monday.

The chief mediator is scheduled to meet President Kibaki and ODM’s Raila Odinga Monday.

The former UN secretary-general is expected to prevail upon the two to give directions to their negotiators to strike a deal on some form of coalition government.

The meeting coincides with the arrival of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to give urgency to the mediated talks.

Dr Rice will meet President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to convey President George Bush’s message that a solution must be found quickly to prevent the country from collapse.

President Bush, who is in neighbouring Tanzania, has said Dr Rice’s mission in Kenya: “(Is) all aimed at having a clear message that there will be no violence and there ought to be a power-sharing agreement.”

The US Foreign Secretary will first be briefed by Mr Annan before meeting the two.

She will address a press conference at 4.50pm at the Muthaiga residence of  ambassador  Michael Ranneberger.

Political crisis

The US sentiments have been echoed by the United Kingdom, Germany, European Union and the UN who have all stated that Kenya would not be allowed to go up in smoke.

While acknowledging the need for a solution to the political crisis and the violence in which more than 1,000 people have been killed, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula was categorical that the Government will not allow the international community to usurp its sovereignty and arm-twist it into a governance structure that fails to respect the Constitution.

“We have a country, we have a Constitution and laws. Whatever agreement reached must be in line with the Constitution and meet the interests of Kenyans,” he said.

The  former UN boss has proposed a coalition government as the best option to end the seven-week-old crisis.

Ambassador Oluyemi Adenije from Nigeria is also expected to arrive Monday to assist Mr Annan in the mediation.

The envoy is a former  Cabinet minister and UN official.

We learnt that while the Government side was not opposed to a new coalition arrangement, it would insist that it must be in line with the provisions of the current Constitution.

This is based on the thinking that the political crisis, which arose from the disputed presidential elections, does not, in any way, subvert the Constitution.

That is why they are advancing the argument that President Kibaki should retain his slots as the Head of Government and Head of State with executive authority.

They will also maintain that Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, in addition to retaining his position in Parliament as the Leader of Government Business,  will assume the position of the principal deputy of the President.

In line with Section 16 of the Constitution, they propose that the position of a Prime Minister, who in reality would serve as the chief minister, be created and given to ODM.

The holder of the position, will oversee the running of government ministries.

Number of ministries

Under the same section, they would propose that an Act of Parliament be passed to fix the number of ministries from which the President can appoint to his Cabinet.

The Government will also hold that the coalition will come into being on condition that President Kibaki serves his full term.

They will also demand that the coalition arrangement stops when the life of the current Parliament comes to an end and the country prepares for fresh elections.

ODM are pushing for a new coalition government in which it will share equal powers and slots with PNU.  They will push for a Prime Minister’s position in a governance arrangement in which the functions of the President and the premier are separated.

While the President retains the position of the Head of State, the Prime Minister will serve as the Head of Government.

The ODM team will also push for creation of two slots of the deputy prime minister, and that Mr Musyoka be edged out of that arrangement.

This means that the PM will be the Leader of Government Business in the House, a position which is currently held by the VP.

They will also demand for half of the ministerial positions and that high profile slots like Finance and Internal Security be shared equally with the PNU.

This arrangement, they argue, has to be replicated even to the lowest ranks in public service jobs.

See related : Long fight for change and link to crisis

Published on February 18, 2008, 12:00 am

By Standard Team

The ghost of constitutional reforms — which two successive regimes failed to deal with — has re-emerged to haunt the political leadership in the middle of a post-election crisis, The Standard can report.

And this on the eve of the high profile arrival today of US Secretary of State Ms Condeleezza Rice and the return of Dr Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, to add impetus to the ongoing mediation talks.

Rice, an emissary of US President George Bush, will carry this message from him to President Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Mr Raila Odinga, "…The US desires to see that there be a power-sharing arrangement that will help this nation resolve its difficulties".

Power-sharing, now at the centre of the ongoing talks to broker a deal out of the crippling political impasse — and which could entail shifting some of the imperial powers of the presidency to another institution — is, in fact, a child of the much sought-after reforms.

Tragically, few lessons have been learnt after many years of false starts dating back to 1997, and billions of shillings gone down the drain, including a referendum on the draft Constitution which the Government lost.

But after failing to reform its constitution in peacetime, Kenya is now confronted with a fresh and even more urgent need to reform its constitution in the middle of a crisis.

Prof Yash Pal Ghai, a consultant during the search for a new constitution in the Kibaki-led National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government, once remarked at the height of his frustration that if Kenya failed to reform its supreme document in peacetime, it somehow would still have to do so in turmoil.

The need for reforms is also in cognizance of the fact that while the mayhem that engulfed the country was a spontaneous response to the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s (ECK) declaration of Kibaki as winner of the 2007 presidential elections, a plethora of other underlying issues that have remained unresolved since Independence helped fuel it.

Mediators have conceded that the crisis cannot be resolved by merely dealing with the puzzle of who won the presidency and sharing out Cabinet positions.

With the international community backing the idea of power sharing, that has also strongly featured on the mediation table, there was no doubt at the weekend that a deal was shaping up along these lines.

New hardliners emerge

A political settlement that could usher in a new government is expected to be announced anytime this week. The talks, led by former UN secretary-general Dr Kofi Annan, former South African First Lady Mrs Graca Machel and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, resume tomorrow.

But a new breed of status quo proponents similar to those who blocked change in Kanu’s last days of a 24-year hegemony and another that frustrated reforms for the most part during Kibaki’s first tenure as President emerged in the form of Party of National Unity (PNU) hardliners.

Power-sharing, which the international community has openly backed and is pressuring the protagonists to accept as the most viable political settlement, appeared to be deeply unsettling for PNU.

In a seemingly well choreographed fight-back, Foreign Affairs minister Mr Moses Wetangula fired the first salvo at US President George Bush — who has backed power-sharing and which idea he branded as a constitutional landmine.

"It is not possible to reach an agreement in affront to the Constitution. We have a country, laws and a Constitution. Whatever we reach as an agreement must be within the law," Wetangula told journalists.

"Kenya will not take the road of agreements through hurried processes influenced by foreign states. We want a fully thought-out process because this is a Kenyan problem."

In a direct response to Bush’s call for power-sharing, Wetangula lashed out: "We will not be led, guided or given conditions by foreign states on how to reach a solution to solve the political impasse in Kenya."

And taking the cue was a group of 10 MPs from PNU and allied parties, who gathered at Hotel Boulevard and dismissed proposals on power sharing.

The MPs also told off President Bush and several envoys, including British High Commissioner Mr Adam Wood, over what they termed as, "infringing on Kenya’s sovereignty".

"It is unacceptable that close to 45 years after independence, we shall allow foreign domination to steal the dream we had at Independence," said part of the statement read at the press conference attended by Mr Peter Munya (Tigania East), Mrs Beth Mugo (Dagoretti), Mr Peter Mwathi (Limuru), Ms Wavinya Ndeti (Kathiani) and Mr Dick Wathika (Makadara), among others.

ODM has proposed a power sharing arrangement that will make the President head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but cede his role as head of government to an executive prime minister, who has two deputies.

In the proposal, the President and premier are to share executive authority with proportionality at all levels of government.

PNU, however, wants the President to remain head of State and government in the event of a grand coalition, with the President appointing members of the Cabinet as he/she wishes.

The party also insists that positions already filled in the Cabinet must not be tampered with, reflecting a hardline position.

Today will represent another busy day on the talks trail, with Rice scheduled to land at 10.30am and thereafter meet with Annan at the Serena Hotel.

She will later meet President Kibaki, ODM leader Raila, and members of the civil society and business community.

Rice is expected to later brief the media before winding up her tour of Kenya.