9 May 2008
Nairobi — A draft policy document that structures the Grand Coalition Government and outlines how it will work has put President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga at the top of a six-tier arrangement.
Referred to as the "Grand Coalition Principals", the two leaders will be perched at the pinnacle of the proposed governance structure.
Directly beneath them will be a panel of five members to be known as the Grand Coalition Panel.
Leaked to The Standard on the eve of a crucial two-day bonding meeting that starts on Friday at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, the draft is guided by the principle of accommodation.
It is structured in a horizontal manner, with the President and PM being side-by-side and the VP and the two deputy prime ministers below them respectively. The panel will serve as the supreme governing body. The rest of the hierarchy, in descending order, includes the Coordination Board, Negotiation Panel, Grand Coalition Joint Parliamentary Group and coalition partners' parliamentary groups.
The document, which is a working draft prepared by Metropolitan Development minister, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, titled Grand Coalition Documents on Policy, Structure and Procedures, is aimed at creating a solid structure upon which the Grand Coalition will operate.
Mutula, who is alos the Mbooni MP, was mandated to prepare the draft by the Serena Talks team. It will be tabled before the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee on May 14 for deliberation, refining and final adoption.
It proposes clearly defined procedures of governance and conflict resolution mechanisms ostensibly designed to ensure the fragile coalition does not crumble.
Built on six pillars, the structure is designed to work in harmony with Parliament, ministries, Cabinet, Office of the President and Office of the Prime Minister.
Tomorrow's historic forum will be opened by the President and will bring together the Vice-President, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, the Prime Minister and his two deputies, Cabinet ministers, Assistant ministers and Permanent Secretaries.
The meeting will also double up as an induction seminar for ministers and PSs. A statement from the Presidential Press Service on Thursday said the Head of State will arrive at the venue at 9am accompanied by Nairobi PC, Mr James Waweru.
On hand to receive him will be the Prime Minister, the Minister of State for Public Service, Mr Dalmas Otieno, and Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Francis Muthaura.
The document calls for "accommodation" of one another as the key principle of the coalition and "consensus" as the preferred method of arriving at decisions.
The partners will seek to build compromise where there is no consensus with a view to eradicating the winner-takes-it-all mentality, according to the draft.
Further, it proposes that the Grand Coalition appoints a committee of 10 members, five from each coalition partner drawn from the Cabinet and party hierarchy, to prepare a Grand Coalition Policy Document.
The document will be signed 30 days after the adoption of the new draft coalition agreement.
Thereafter, it will become policy and the official working document to be implemented by the executive. Alterations to the document can only be made on the approval of the Grand Coalition Coordination Board.
The Grand Coalition Panel will be composed of the President and Vice-President, on the one hand, and the PM and the two deputies, on the other, in a horizontal arrangement.
The President will be the chairman of the Grand Coalition Panel. In his absence, the PM will be the chair.
This provision appears to deal with the contentious pecking order that was the source of embarrassing public superiority battles between Raila and Kalonzo.
The role of the Panel will be to promote reconciliation in the coalition and serve as the final arbiter on disputes.
The Panel will also make final decisions issues through the organs of the coalition. In essence, the Panel will be the governing organ of the coalition.
The draft says the Panel is an internal organ and members will at no time engage in public disagreements. Its meetings will be in camera and the agenda, discussions, meeting place and time confidential.
The Panel shall be assisted by a Co-ordination Board of 10 members out of which eight will be ministers, four from each of the coalition partners, nominated by the two leaders.
The Chief Whip and the Deputy Whip of the Grand Coalition Joint Parliamentary Group will be members of the board.
It shall operate like the 2003 Narc Summit, but unlike the latter, the members will be from the Grand Coalition Cabinet, giving it more authority.
The Grand Coalition Negotiation Panel will have eight members with equal number from each of the partners. The Negotiation Panel will meet under the leadership of Eminent Persons and through negotiations prepare documents and make recommendations to the Coordination Board, Grand Coalition Panel, Cabinet or the two principals.
The resolutions reached will be signed and binding.
The Cabinet will meet every Thursday at 10am, but unlike current procedures, there shall be formal and informal bi-weekly meetings.
Informal Cabinet meetings will be bonding sessions for ministers to inform and seek input from colleagues, broader coordination on issues and capacity and team building.
In the informal sessions, ministers with intention to raise issues must inform, in writing, and coordinate with the Office of the President two days before the meeting.
The document also outlines the role and procedures of formal Cabinet meetings with the underlying principle of collective responsibility.
The Cabinet shall not engage in negative public exchanges on policy issues or personal matters and any dispute will be channeled through the coalition structure and procedures.
The Constitution notwithstanding, the decisions in the Cabinet shall be by consensus. The meetings will be chaired by the President, while the PM will be the co-ordinator.
For the purpose of accommodation, coordination and consultation in policy-making, the coalition will identify clusters of ministries.
The document does not mention the proposed clusters, giving room for input by the Serena Talks team. Each cluster will be under the docket of the Deputy Prime ministers.
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