|
|
Kenya: Hostile Reception for Kibaki And Raila
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
22 April 2008
Posted to the web 22 April 2008
David Ohito And Patrick Wachira
Nairobi
Hostility greeted President Kibaki and Prime Minister, Mr Raila Odinga, at a meeting with Rift Valley MPs called to fast-track resettlement of displaced people.
Vice-President, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, and a host of Cabinet ministers watched in disbelief as Kibaki and Raila found themselves in unfamiliar waters at the stormy meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) on Tuesday. A Party of National Unity MP, Mr John Mututho of Naivasha, raised the tempo when he told the President that tension in the Rift Valley began shortly after the 2002 election when the Kalenjin felt that they were being eased out of the Civil Service.
Rift Valley MPs and State officials wait for President Kibaki and the Prime Minister, Mr Raila Odinga, to address them at kicc, Nairobi, on Tuesday.
So hot were the questions fired that Raila asked for time out and left the meeting early. No explanation was offered for his early exit.
The meeting, called to attempt to resolve the thorny issue of resettling people displaced during post-election violence, ran into hurdles even as President Kibaki sent out a passionate appeal to the MPs to accompany him and Raila on a tour of the province beginning on Thursday.
More than 1,500 were killed and 350,000 others displaced in the post-election violence that rocked the country after the announcement of the presidential elections last December.
Raila set the tempo of the meeting when he said the Grand Coalition Cabinet and the united leadership had been working intensely to lay the basis of a lasting solution.
Sources at the meeting said MPs fired salvos at the two leaders over appointments to the Cabinet and permanent secretaries.
"We expected the Government to reflect the face of Kenya and the appointments of permanent secretaries to reflect the 50-50 power sharing agreement. But we were disappointed," one MP told President Kibaki and Raila to their face.
Mututho also told the Head of State to his face that the Kalenjin community was angered by what they regarded as "victimisation" and "purge" targeted at their community.
The more than 40 MPs at the meeting cheered Mututho as Laikipia East MP, Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri, who is also the Water Assistant minister, supported him.
The meeting began at 11am, shortly after President Kibaki was ushered into the hall by Kalonzo, Raila, Internal Security minister, Prof George Saitoti, and Head of the Civil Service, Mr Francis Muthaura.
Ministers at the meeting were Mr William Ruto, Mr Henry Kosgey, Dr Sally Kosgei, Mr Kipkalya Kones, Prof Hellen Sambili, Dr Noah Wekesa, Mr James Orengo and Deputy Prime ministers, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Musalia Mudavadi.
President Kibaki emerged from the meeting shortly after 2pm, although it was billed to end at 1pm.ODM legislators non-committal
Immediately they left the venue at the executive suite, Cabinet ministers and MPs congregated in small groups and from their faces and agitated gestures, it was clear that all was not well.
The MPs demanded that President Kibaki and Raila's visit be shelved until pending issues were resolved. They argued that a census of IDPs be done to ascertain their numbers, those willing and unwilling to resettle and those living with relatives and families outside the camps.
They also demanded a halt to the military operation in Mt Elgon District and eviction of residents from the Mau Forest, claiming that the operations were merely creating another category of IDPs whose plight should also be addressed.
President Kibaki's problems began when differences emerged over the planned tour of the region. As the MPs argued over the visit, Raila asked how many MPs would accompany him and the Head of State in the tour of Rift Valley.
Only MPs from PNU and two ministers raised their hands, while the rest of ODM legislators remained non-committal, throwing the meeting into a division.
But the President insisted that he had scheduled the visit for Thursday, beginning in Eldoret town and proceeding to Cherangany in the afternoon.
Naivasha, Molo and Kuresoi would be next on Friday and on Saturday, Kipkelion, Sotik and Chebilat.
But the MPs insisted that those displaced in Mt Elgon District and Mau Forest be included in the resettlement programme as well.
|
The Presidential Press Service later issued a statement on the meeting in which the media were barred.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
