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Kenya: Parties Want Annan to Resolve Cabinet Row
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The Nation (Nairobi)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Bernard Namunane
Nairobi
The Government coalition and ODM have contacted former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to help them break the stalemate over how they should share Cabinet positions.
President Kibaki leaves Harambee House after meeting with some ministers on Wednesday. Photo/JOSEPH MATHENGE
Sources from both sides confirmed that Mr Annan, who succeeded in brokering a deal to end a post-election l crisis, had spoken to President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga on phone.
They said Mr Annan was actively taking part in the talks on the formation of a grand coalition Cabinet.
The negotiations are now being held back by the desire of PNU and ODM to hold the three key ministries of Finance, Local Government and Public Service.
Seek intervention
It is understood that Mr Annan, who was the chief mediator in the peace talks, is keen to ensure that the National Accord is implemented without hitches.
The decision to seek Mr Annan's intervention means that a new Cabinet is unlikely to be named this week.
It also emerged that ODM turned down attempts by PNU leaders to set another meeting between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga, the Prime-Minister-designate.
The meeting was meant to harmonise the two parties' Cabinet proposals.
Sources said that a second meeting would only be held once the sticky issues of size, sharing of slots and portfolio balance are resolved. As they haggled over the sharing of positions, it is understood that the two sides were anxious to come to an agreement on the matter.
The two sides blamed each other over the standoff over the sharing of ministries.
On Wednesday, leaders from both parties engaged in consultations away from the glare of TV cameras and the public as part of efforts to strike a deal that could give Kenyans a new Cabinet sooner rather than later.
President Kibaki and Mr Odinga had met on Tuesday to discuss the Cabinet line-up but their meeting was adjourned after about two-and-a-half hours when they failed to agree on the size of the Cabinet and distribution of key seats.
Each of the two sides came up with a list of ministries that they either wanted to keep or give to the other. They also had different proposals on how the key portfolio would be balanced.
PNU initially rooted for 44 ministries but climbed down to 38 while ODM wanted the presented number of 34 retained. It is understood that Mr Odinga asked PNU to resist pressure from affiliate parties to increase the number of seats.
Retain key dockets
While ODM pushed for 50:50 sharing of ministries that would have given each side 17 slots, it is understood that PNU was seeking a 38-member Cabinet in which the party was to take 21 slots.
PNU had also proposed to retain the key dockets of Finance, Internal Security and Provincial Administration, and Foreign Affairs.
ODM had proposed that it be given finance and that Internal Security be split with the party getting the Public Service and Provincial Administration arm.
The ODM version of the Cabinet had 34 ministries among them Local Government, Information and Communication, Housing and Public Works, Education and others which the party was seeking.
However, when President Kibaki and Mr Odinga failed to agree on who should control Internal Security, Finance and Local Government among other key ministries, the two leaders mutually resolved to consult their parties before resuming talks.
On Wednesday, both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga held separate consultations with their party leaders to seek the way out of the standoff.
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President Kibaki spent most of the day in his Harambee House office while Mr Odinga was in his Pentagon House party headquarters where he met with other party leaders.
At Harambee House, President Kibaki held consultations with Cabinet ministers George Saitoti (Internal Security), Martha Karua (Justice and Constitutional Affairs) and Uhuru Kenyatta (Local Government).
The three have been touted for one of the newly created slots of deputy Prime Minister. The meeting was said to have discussed ways of reaching a compromise with ODM on condition that PNU's interests were taken care of in the new line-up.
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