A Political Kenya: Latest Politics and Kenya Economy News

Maybe the election tally records were tampered with. That is what the ODM claims. And that is the reason they cite to oppose tallying the vote again. In the end, though, the question of resolution must be dealt with somehow.

The country needs to know who was the true winner. Some commentators have argued that this is no longer necessary, that it will only aggravate matters, and that we should move on regardless.

That is not good enough. Finding out who the real winner was is the only way to bring closure to the recent madness.

I do not think it is impossible to find that out. The first thing to do is get an independent panel – international or national – to carry out a forensic audit of the vote.

If we believe the tally documents are faulty, we can go back to the actual ballots in every place and compare them with the voter registers. It is possible to get a fairly accurate picture from these.

Rightful president

Once that is done, the quarrel over who should be the rightful president will have been resolved. If it is Hon Raila Odinga, let him have the seat. If it is Pastor Pius Muiru, so be it.

However, what must get priority is punishment for impunity. It is heartening to hear that the two sides in the Kofi Annan-led mediation group are agreed on this point, though I suspect one or two persons in that group may not quite know the gravity of what could lie ahead.

Those who have killed and organised for people to be killed under the guise of political protest must be made to understand there will be painful consequences for this.

I am happy to learn charge sheets are being prepared against some of the perpetrators of the violence.

Likewise, a truth and reconciliation commission, which the mediation group has agreed to, is a brilliant idea. But it must not be used to wipe away the criminality of the killings that have happened.

Evil is evil, and just because someone has “confessed” does not mean one should be let off scot-free. Justice must take its course.

And in this case, the kin of the more than 1,000 dead, and the over 350,000 displaced, most of who lost the fruit of their lifetime labour, want to see the criminals responsible punished in a manner that will serve as a lasting lesson.

That there was an election dispute must not be used as mitigation. It does not follow that if you quarrel with me you have the licence to kill me.

The truth commission should do much more than just provide a forum to air grievances.

That was the mistake made by the South African version that was created after the collapse of apartheid. Ventilating grievances did not seal the deep racial gap that still exists in that country.

Truth commission

Our truth commission should probe the genesis of the ethnic hatred that we saw, which was masked in the misleading colours of post-election protests.

We have to ask ourselves whether such hatred – which by the way did not materialise last year – can be tolerated in a country that seeks cohesion.

Inevitably, the issue of land keeps cropping up. What is greatly encouraging to hear is that land transfers were suspended in the entire North Rift at the onset of the violence.

This basically means some buffoon who chased somebody from his land and occupied it thinking it will be his for keeps is deceiving himself.

It also helps to guard against the displaced people being forced to sell at throwaway prices. This mindset of causing misfortune to others thinking you will acquire free land is part and parcel of the impunity that is destroying this country.

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta gave us some very sound advice at independence: Hakuna cha bure. Nothing is free. That still holds true today.

If at independence departing White settlers were compensated for land that they grabbed by force, it is absurd to propose that Kenyans who bought their plots should get dispossessed because they are not “ancestral” to a particular place.

Anybody coveting those pieces of land must be ready to buy them at market rates, and only if the owners want to sell.

The problem of political fat cats who grabbed large chunks of land in shady circumstances over the years must be treated separately from the case of peasants who migrated from Kisii or Murang’a and bought plots of land elsewhere either individually or through pooling resources in land-buying companies.

Land ownership cannot be divorced from the free enterprise economy we profess to follow.

GITAU WARIGI

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As the Kofi Annan mediation team left Nairobi for a "secret location" and imposed a 72-hour news blackout on the critical phase of the talks, the race was on to establish just where in Kenya the team would be getting away from the world's attention.

In a press statement, the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation group of Annan, Graca Machel and Benjamin Mkapa invited negotiating teams to "resume their discussions outside of Nairobi with the goal of reaching an agreement on the outstanding political issues in the next 48 to 72 hours."

The team was expected to leave Nairobi yesterday to its hideout where there will be total blackout of the talks.

The former UN chief took the drastic measure "to ensure confidentiality" as the team grapples with the legitimacy of the current administration that has been challenged by the Opposition.

Yesterday, the smart money was betting that the retreat was at the Hilton Hotel's Tsavo Salt Lick Lodge in Tsavo National Park.

The team is said to have eyed the lodge as a unique resort - built atop stilts overlooking a waterhole for Kenya's majestic wildlife.

The lodge is situated within Hilton's own private wildlife sanctuary adjacent to the national park, has 96 guest rooms and has recently expanded its bar, restaurant and public areas.

Tsavo National Park also has another lodge - Voi Safari Lodge - which has 52 rooms. The park also has several tented camps with rooms and beds.

Getting to Tsavo East National Park from Nairobi, one has to pass Voi. There is however another route directly from Mombasa via Manyani Gate. Approached from Malindi, one has to pass via Sala Gate. There are six airstrips in the southern part of the park and 13 in the northern part.

There are no scheduled flights to the park but chartered light planes can be used. This provides the perfect environment for a "total blackout" of the talks or a meeting requiring similar treatment.

The other place touted as a possible hideout for the Annan Team was the Petley's Inn - a sister to The New Lamu Palace Hitel in Lamu town on the seashore. The inn which has 11 self-contained rooms and all top amenities including cable/satellite TV.

Also touted as an ideal hideout for the team was Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort in Mombasa.

Taking a shot at possible hideouts, event organisers The Energy Source said one of the best places to hold a hush-hush meeting would be Kongoni resort in Naivasha located in very private and in a secluded area.

The company also identified Nakuru as an ideal place for such a meeting citing its proximity to Nairobi where the team has been sitting.

Another company In Sync Limited also identified Naivasha as an ideal place for such talks.

However Naivasha and any hotel or lodge in Nakuru and Western and Nyanza parts of the country are said to have been ruled out owing to the recent political clashes in those regions.

In the Annan's team of mediators are former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa and Dr Graca Machel, the wife of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela.

Negotiating on the Government side are Justice Minister Martha Karua, Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri, Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo and Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula.

On the ODM side are Pentagon members Musalia Mudavadi and William Ruto, and MPs Dr Sally Kosgei and James Orengo.

James Kanyotu, a former special branch intelligence chief who was adversely mentioned in the Goldenberg Commission of partnering with Kamlesh Pattni of defrauding the government died at Nairobi Hospital of a long illness. Kanyotu was fired in the early 90s by the then President Moi.

Koffi Annan states that his grand coalition statements yesterday at Parliament was misunderstood by the Kenya Government side. The issue was sorted out this morning during the mediation talks held outside Nairobi.

Annan and his team are rumoured to be holed up at Tsavo National Park.

Nation TV yesterday disclosed the rot and deplorable conditions at Kenyatta National Hospital where patients are unattended, sleeping on the floor, food is served based on the tribe of the patient etc. Kenya does not currently have a Minister of Health, something that has created a gap in Health Ministry operations.

Though potentially messy, coalition the only way out

ON THE FACE OF IT, A grand coalition of parties does not appeal. Cautious voices have warned that we are likely to end up with an adhocracy in Parliament – a messy arrangement where the distinction between the opposition and the Government will be blurred, and where oversight institutions of the House will find it difficult to function. Yet in our present circumstances, and in a context where politics is played along ethnic lines, only an arrangement that allows all the major interest groups to share power according to an agreed formula has a chance of healing the country. We cannot just cling to the adversarial system of governance as though it was dogma, when the alternative is hundreds of people dead, thousands displaced, and a looming economic crisis. In ethnically divided Kenya, staying in the opposition implies permanent exclusion of members of some communities from public positions, including those of permanent secretaries, directors of parastatals, and top positions in the disciplined forces, especially the military. It can also imply that the regions of the ethnic communities sitting in the opposition benches are starved of resources, while the communities “in government” continue to hog the lion’s share of resources and public positions. In this country, the State is still the most important source of investment and national employment. This is why it is so difficult to persuade people to sit in the opposition benches or to convince them that it is worth their while to play their watchdog role of taking seriously the leadership of the oversight committees of the House. Sitting in the opposition is also disadvantageous because of the risk of losing your members to the Government side through co-option. The Big Man will be dangling the carrot of public appointments, lucrative contracts to insiders, new districts for your region, and a university for your province. And before you know it, the opposition will have been reduced to a one-ethnic-group affair, and its members will be dismissed as bad-tempered and eccentric individuals with neither influence nor clout – very much in the vein of the small group of radicals that former power man Charles Njonjo used to refer to as the “seven bearded sisters”. What is my point? It is that at the stage we are in at the moment, a well-crafted power-sharing formula will send strong signals to the citizenry. This might be the only way to demonstrate to the various ethnic communities in this country that their political leaders are now prepared to reunite and heal the country. IT IS TIME OUR LEADERS DEMONstrated a capacity to change and learn from past experience. If we are to get the nation’s adrenaline going again, we must end the era of stiff-necks, frozen postures and unbending minds. If there was a time we needed leadership, it is now. Leaders must emerge, from both sides of the political divide, who avoid inflammatory speeches, who can restrain the tempers of their ethnic followers, and who are willing to make compromises with their adversaries. This country badly needs a leader to hold the country together and replenish its self-confidence – a healer to treat the political as well as economic wounds inflicted on its citizens, and a pilot to guide the nation onward to a modern state where citizens will prefer to relate to one another as compatriots instead of as kinsmen. And, as we address power-sharing, we must also address radical reforms of the civil service. All those politically-appointed permanent secretaries who have reached retirement age should step aside to leave space for de-motivated career civil servants who have marked time in public service for years, hoping against hope that they will one day rise to the top. Today, you can count with a few fingers the number of permanent secretaries who have risen through the ranks to occupy this coveted post. We will need to introduce measures to strengthen the Public Service Commission, the official employer for the Government. On paper, the commission has very transparent systems of recruiting people in the civil service. In 2005, it published new regulations spelling out detailed procedures for recruitment and tightening up the qualifications needed for each position. Under the new rules, all positions have to be advertised, even when internal promotions are being considered. They include an appeals mechanism, as well as an obligation to ensure regional balance in employment. But in reality, the rules are honoured more in breach than in practice. The appeals mechanism has not worked. In view of the fact that perceived discrimination in civil service appointments has become a highly-charged political issue, there is a strong case to raise the profile and autonomy of the Public Service Commission. The Cabinet has also proved to be too large and unwieldy. There is a strong case for reducing the number of ministries by redefining roles and reducing responsibility to a few core functions. www.nationmedia.com

What kind of power-sharing are they talking about?

WE HAVE BEEN GETTING a lot of hype in the past few days about an imminent breakthrough in the talks trying to negotiate a way out of Kenya’s political crisis. But it seems to me that a lot of what we are hearing is based either on mere speculation or selective leaks by one or other of the parties involved in the power struggle. So far, a lot seems to be pointing to agreement on a sort of power-sharing arrangement. But there clearly is no agreement yet. So far what we have is only an acknowledgement by both sides that there is a serious problem which can only be fixed by a political settlement. Accepting the principle of power-sharing or a joint interim administration is quite some distance removed from an actual agreement. In any case, details on what shape such an administration would take differ wildly depending on which side is being generous with leaks about what is being discussed behind closed doors. There is clearly a lot of hard bargaining ahead, but it is at least a step forward that both sides seem to be relaxing their initial intransigent positions and edging towards meeting halfway. All along the public position taken by the Government has been that President Kibaki won the election fairly and that the opposition reacted to electoral loss with a campaign of violence. Therefore, in the Government’s view, the only thing worth talking about was the opposition calling an end to the violence and seeking redress in an election petition court. The opposition, however, has been adamant that its candidate, Mr Raila Odinga was the real victor in the presidential elections. They have been insisting that President Kibaki was not the winner and therefore should resign to pave the way for a fresh election. Talk about a softening of positions is a clear sign that both sides recognise the urgent need for a political solution. The power-sharing option looks like the best option, but such an arrangement can only be of a temporary nature to create room for comprehensive constitutional reforms pending fresh elections. It should never be, as is being suggested in some quarters, simply to provide “jobs for the boys”. Creating the post of Prime Minister for Mr Odinga and admitting some of his party MPs in a unitary government is one thing. Simply creating room, also, for the opposition to appoint its own nominees to senior civil service and parastatal positions is quite another. What we should be looking towards is creating a strictly apolitical and professional civil service, not one staffed by relatives, friends, political supporters, hangers-on and cronies of either President Kibaki and Mr Odinga. A POWER-SHARING SYSTEM IN which the principal participants are deeply suspicious of each other is difficult enough to manage. It would be even more difficult when the policy implementation arm of Government, the civil service, is divided down the middle with key officials loyal to different political camps. It also follows that where the country is under such a temporary administration, the public service should assume a far greater role in actually running the country than under ordinary circumstances, while the political leadership busies itself with other matters. Any settlement based on power-sharing should therefore come with radical reform and overhaul to create a strong and very independent public service that is completely insulated from political influence. This obviously should start with resignation of all permanent secretaries and other presidential appointments to make room for fresh recruitment by an independent and apolitical Public Service Commission, complete with parliamentary oversight and vetting. Here, the focus should be on strengthening the relevant boards and commissions, getting rid of existing political appointees, and putting in place mechanisms to ensure that merit — in terms of qualifications, experience and diversity — always takes precedence over politics. Of course, all these concerns about the public service would be academic in the absence of a political settlement. That settlement hinges on President Kibaki accepting that he probably did not win the elections, and Mr Odinga accepting that he probably did not win either. In other words, none of the two has a legitimate and cast-iron claim to the presidency, and so the only solution is another election. Of course, an election cannot take place until there is an adequate cooling-off period, peace is restored, and the necessary constitutional and administrative reforms are enacted. Any such reforms must obviously be worked on jointly by both sides, and hence the rationale for the power-sharing formula. Looked at rationally, however, it is really not about sharing power; it is not about sharing the spoils or eating together. It is about sharing responsibility in an interim administration whose main function would be to push through the reforms vital towards creating an environment for fresh elections under a system that will not again lead this country into the path of death and destruction. www.nationmedia.com

"We did not agree on a grand coalition followed by fresh elections in two years"

That is PNU's message to Annan following the speaker's Kamukunji where Annan told MPs of a coalition between ODM and PNU to oversee constitution and electoral reforms and arrange for a General Election in two year's time. This proposition concurred with ODM's demand of a re-run only that ODM wanted it in six months' time.

Martha Karua has written to Annan decrying the way Annan made the announcement before the mediation team agreed on a political solution. PNU MPs had a briefing with the president at Harambee house immediately after the speaker's Kamukunji and thereafter held a meeting at county hall where Danson Mungatana acted as their spokesman to reiterate their hardline position.

For Kenyans it is not yet over, the hard-line positions are back! Brace for more exchanges in the coming days and a possible stalling of the mediation talks.

In an informal Parliament sitting called the Speaker's Kamukunji, Koffi Annan and his team had the opportunity to update MPs on the developments of the mediation.

Key issues fronted:

1. Resolution of the political crisis may need the formation of a Grand Coalition
   
2. Independent review committee to review issues leading to the announcement of the results of the General Election
3. MPs asked to travel to their constituencies to preach peace and reconciliation.
4. MPs to ready themselves to urgently carry out institutional, constitutional and legal reforms to help resolve the current political crisis, possibly in preparation of fresh elections within two years

The Annan team inclusive of ODM and PNU representatives is expected to travel to an undisclosed location to iron out the finer details of the Government of National Unity. Annan has predicted that this will take between 48 to 72 hours. During this team all media houses have been requested to give a news blackout to the mediation talks awaiting a formal announcement of the agreement by Annan. MPs and political party leaders have been asked not to comment on anything on the negotiation table during this time.