allAfrica.com: Tanzania: No 'White Smoke' On Coalition Cabinet, Yet (Page 1 of 1)

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki chats with Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga when he called on him at his Harambee House office in Nairobi yesterday.

Kenyans yesterday continued to be kept in dark after President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga failed to come up with a new grand coalition cabinet.

After a two-hour closed-door meeting, it was finally ruled out that a new cabinet would be agreed immediatley, as some contentious issues are yet to be ironed out. Prime Minister designate Raila Odinga emerged from the meeting to say they were not ready yet to name a coalition Cabinet.

Mr Odinga whose face showed that he wasn't in a good mood told journalists that they had covered a bit of ground on the new cabinet but more consultations were still needed.

Asked when he expected the new cabinet to be announced, Mr Odinga replied briefly, "I don't know" leaving more questions unanswered as journalists struggled unsuccessfully to get him talk more.

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader said consultations will continue on structure of the coalition government.

President Kibaki and Mr Odinga went into the meeting at 11am to refine a new Cabinet under the power sharing deal.

Mr Odinga arrived at President Kibaki's Harambee House office at 11am and left at 1.30pm. Earlier, there were speculations that the two leaders were at loggerhead about how to share the key ministries, with both sides pushing for the 'lion's share' of the key posts in the proposed coalition cabinet.

Sections of the media reported that a few days after the peace accord was passed into law by Parliament, hardliners especially from the PNU have been pushing for a virtual monopoly of key ministries. But it is understood that ODM has also made it clear that it was ready for a 50/50 power sharing and was not ready for anything less than that.

Later, government spokesperson Dr Alfred Mutua, refuted the claims that the two leaders were at loggerheads, saying that there were positive consultations on how to form the new cabinet. The two leaders are required to jointly name ministers under the national accord brokered by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

The accord stipulates that the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement should enter into a coalition with portfolio balance and reflecting relative parliamentary strength.

Parliament last week unanimously passed the accord into law, embedding it in the Constitution and clearing the way for its implementation.

The African Union and the international community intervened to help Kenyan leaders strike a peace deal after the disputed results of the December 27 presidential election resulted in weeks of protests and violence that left more than 1,000 people dead and about 350,000 displaced. President Kibaki and Mr Odinga finally signed a pact on February 28, after two months of often heated negotiations.

By Richard Mgamba and Churchill Otieno, Nairobi