25 April 2008
editorial
Nairobi — On Thursday, for the umpteenth time over the past few weeks, the National Dialogue and Reconciliation talks failed because a quorum could not be raised.
The eight representatives had apparently accompanied President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to the series of peace rallies in the Rift Valley. That they did not even have the courtesy of tendering apologies says a lot about their attitude towards the whole process.
When Dr Kofi Annan left the country after successfully negotiating the power-sharing agreement, he left the continuing mediation in the hands of Nigerian diplomat Oluyemi Adeniji. Mr Annan cautioned on his departure that power-sharing was only the first step in a very long journey. Since then, however, talks on outstanding issues have not been proceeding on course. First, all the representatives were diverted by the tussle over composition of the coalition Cabinet.
Now the Cabinet is in place, but it is evident that the talks chaired by Prof Adeniji are playing second fiddle to matters the delegates consider more important. On Tuesday this week, the talks were adjourned so that the negotiators could attend a meeting in Nairobi that the president and the prime minister were having with MPs from the Rift Valley on the fate of persons displaced by post-election violence. Then, Thursday the negotiations failed again. The eight members of the negotiation team, four each from PNU and ODM arms of government, are also Cabinet ministers. It is given that other than the important issue of resettling the refugees, which is one of the key things the talks are supposed to be resolving, they will also get caught up in other official duties they consider more important.
It follows then that if the national dialogue process is to proceed meaningfully, all the eight representatives must either commit themselves fully, or surrender their slots to others who can give the talks due time and attention.
Let us not forget that the appointment of a Cabinet was not an end in itself. The primary mandate of the coalition government is to ensure pressing national problems are resolved through continuing dialogue.
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