Kenya cabinet sharing talks collapse yet again

By Kenneth Oduor,

NAIROBI, Kenya- Kenya is again on the international spotlight albeit for the wrong reasons. The talks that have been going on between President Mwai Kibaki’s PNU coalition and the Raila Odinga’s ODM party have literally collapsed after Odinga pulled out of the talks citing frustration by the PNU side.

The talks collapsed Monday after a meeting between President Kibaki and the Prime Minister designate on how the two could equally share the cabinet portfolios failed to reach an amicable consensus.
“We are suspending our involvement in the negotiations with PNU until our demands are met. But we want to reiterate that we are still committed to a speedy conclusion of the talks to give Kenyans a new cabinet”, said Mr. Odinga while addressing the press at his party headquarters in Nairobi.
Immediately after Mr. Odinga addressed the press to give his party position, President Kibaki addressed the country in a televised speech to reaffirm his commitment to the talks saying he is still willing to engage with ODM leader on how best to share the cabinet slots.

“I call on Kenyans to be patient as we engage in discussions to form a cabinet to move this country forward. I further

call on Hon. Raila to engage constructively so that we can iron out the areas and I am willing to involve myself in the same”, the President reaffirmed.
Tuesday, the two parties, that is PNU and ODM held their parliamentary group meetings and emerged with further hard-line positions regarding the formation of the cabinet.

While addressing the press after the meeting at Pentagon House which is the headquarters of ODM, the party’s Secretary General insisted that until their demands which entails that the president dissolve the current cabinet is met, they will not engage in any further discussions with PNU saying the other side was hell bent on frustrating the power sharing talks.
“We demand the dissolution of the current cabinet as it is illegal as it is currently constituted. We demand that executive authority be shared between the president and the Prime Minister”, Nyong’o said.
On the other hand, PNU also emerged from their meeting with fresh preconditions saying they are willing to negotiate but only if ODM drops their demands.

“ODM should these unrealistic demands. The president is even ready for another election should the talks fail, and if need be he is even willing to dissolve the current cabinet”, said the Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.
Meanwhile, the former UN boss Kofi Annan sent a message to both Kibaki and Raila to give Kenyans a cabinet that reflect the spirit of the power accord they signed in February. Annan’s plea was delivered by his press secretary at the negotiations. He said that the new cabinet would be the best present the two leaders would be giving him on the eve of his birthday celebrated Tuesday.