Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
President Kibaki has said that his nomination of four Kenyans to top State jobs was within the law.
Addressing a news conference at his Harambee House office Friday over Speaker Kenneth Marende's ruling on the controversial nominations, President Kibaki said he will await the decision of the Constitutional Court.
The President said he acted "within my constitutional mandate" in nominating the four individuals to the four justice and budget jobs.
He said that the spirit of separation of powers among the three arms of government "on this important constitutional issue ought to have been respected".
"The interpretation of the Constitution ought to have been left to the Judiciary," President Kibaki said.
"In my actions as your President, I have at all times acted in accordance with the Constitution and the Laws of Kenya."
He said the two House Committee on Justice and Finance had found that the nominations were constitutional.
"None of the these two Parliamentary Committees returned a verdict that myself and the Prime Minister had acted unconstitutionality in relation to the nominations," he said.
"Before we can conclude the nominations that we have embarked upon, the government will wait the verdict of the Constitutional Court on the nominations. In the meantime, we shall proceed with other aspects of implementing the Constitution."
He said that his government was committed to the implementation of the new Constitution and that he will provide leadership in the process.
Already, a court has issued interim orders that the nominations were unconstitutional.
But Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the Speaker had upheld the Constitution when making his ruling.
“The Speaker made that ruling in line with the Constitution and in that (ruling), there is no winner or loser. The winner is Kenya. Nobody should brag that I won and they lost. Kenya won,” the PM said.
He further said he will sit with President Kibaki and work out a new list.
“President Kibaki will say this is what I want and I will also tell him what I want and then we will agree,” he said.
Addressing a rally in Garsen town at the close of the first day of his tour of Coast Province, the PM further urged Kenyans not to fear that the coalition government would collapse on the basis of the ruling.
“I know we will sit and resolve this issue so that country can go forward. There is no need for people to fear anything. Don not take it that the country will be split over this matter,” the PM said to cheers from the crowd.
Two weeks ago, both principals agreed to refer the matter to the House and respect its decision after their meeting failed to break the impasse.
"On the Issue of the nominations to fill State offices currently under consideration by Parliament, the two Principals agreed to respect the ongoing parliamentary process and its outcome.
Furthermore, the two Principals assured Kenyans that they will observe the letter and spirit of the Constitution in implementation of the Constitution including the appointment to State Offices," read a statement from President Kibaki's office.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
PNU looking to withdraw from Grand Coalition
The Party of National Unity (PNU) is calling for a meeting to discuss withdrawal from the Grand Coalition government by March 4 this year.
Party officials on Wednesday wrote to its chairman, Prof George Saitoti, asking him to call for a national delegates conference within 21 days, with a view to discussing the withdrawal agenda.
This, they said, would be in accordance with Section 6C of the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Act.
The Act states that the coalition shall stand dissolved if the 10th Parliament is dissolved; the coalition parties agree in writing; or one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition by a resolution of the highest decision-making organ of that party in writing.
PNU is one of the partners in Kenya’s coalition, with President Kibaki being the most senior member of the party.
PNU cited constant wrangling with partner Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party – led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga - as the reason for wanting to break from the coalition.
The officials - who included joint vice-chair Jamleck Kamau and Jimmy Angwenyi, deputy secretary-general Jeremiah Kioni, deputy treasurer Nderitu Murithi and Youth representative Christopher Bett - said the move would pave way for the formation of a government of national unity.
“As one of the coalition partners in this grand coalition government, it has come time for us to review whether it is in the benefit of this country to continue remaining in the grand coalition,” Mr Kioni, who is also Ndaragwa MP said.
Speaking at the party offices in Nairobi, they expressed their support for President Kibaki’s announcement of the judiciary nominees last week, a move that sparked controversy and criticized for not being consultative.
The issue was a matter of heated debate in Parliament on Tuesday, and House Speaker Kenneth Marende is on Thursday expected to rule on the legality of the nominations.
However, on Wednesday PNU officials questioned the move, saying only the courts were mandated to interpret the law.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
KENYA POLITICS
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has blamed President Kibaki’s advisers for the judicial appointments row.
"The buck stops with the President and the Prime Minister, but the advisers can outreach themselves and that is where the problem is," the premier said.
Raila said he had worked with Kibaki for about 20 years, adding opportunists responsible for the collapse of the 2003 MoU were to blame for the current stalemate.
"Unfortunately, when the same elements come in between me and the President, that’s when you see these kind of problems," he added.
Raila, who hosted editors for a breakfast meeting at KICC, Nairobi, downplayed the row, describing it as a "passing cloud" that would be resolved.
He said the Coalition Government was not about to disintegrate.
"I can confirm the coalition will not collapse, otherwise we will not have come this far," he added.
The PM said coalition governments had challenges because each side holds different policies.
"What should happen is that the principals must guard against their lieutenants," he added.
New boundaries Raila said elections would not be held next year before the number of constituencies is increased to 290 as the Constitution stipulates.
"How the country will fare next year depends on how we do this year," he said.
He added: "I am fully committed to the implementation of the Constitution and I’m aware some people in Government are undeniably opposed to the process."
Raila said the appointment of a new Chief Justice should be done on merit.
On post-election chaos trials, Raila said those who were rooting for a local tribunal had opposed the process in support of The Hague.
"All were for the Hague process until Moreno-Ocampo came up with the names and the story changed," he added.
The PM said deferral could only be done by the UN Security Council under Article 16 of the International Crimes Act.
He said when the Africa Union sought a deferral for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir’s case, no response was forthcoming.
Raila said only three African countries — South Africa, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea — were members of the Security Council.
"How does the AU play a role in our case?" said Raila, adding "why run around lobbying Gadaffi ( Libya) and all those other countries then claim to have reclaimed Kenya’s dignity."
The PM said the Government ought to have lobbied the five permanent council members of the Security Council with veto powers.
He said it was for this reason that he had spoken of referral, not deferral of the cases and insisted on dealing with the international court directly. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is seeking summons against six prominent Kenyans he accuses of fanning the 2007-2008 violence.
Local trials
He said carrying out cosmetic changes in the Judiciary and expecting the ICC will allow the cases to be dealt with locally would be a pipedream.
At the same time, the PM said he was never consulted over the appointment of the director of National Security Intelligence Major-General (rtd) Michael Gichangi, which Kibaki made a fortnight ago.
"On appointment of the Director General of NSIS, there was no consultation. I didn’t want to bring it up in Parliament because I don’t want us to go that way," the PM said.
DILEMMA FOR THE SPEAKER OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: KENYA
Political standstill
Raila and Kibaki need to work on their differences and help this country move foward.
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