Kenya Stockholm Blog

ODM Scandinavia Statement On New Cabinet

A Cabinet of 42 has eventually been announced by President Mwai Kibaki and from an initial study of the line up, it is clear that ODM accepted the deal without some of its key demands being met. The contentious Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Internal security, Defence, Transport, Energy together with Information and communication which ODM wanted shared have all been retained by PNU.

Apart from the Ministry of Local government and Ministry of Tourism, ODM has effectively settled for peripheral Ministries. In its last Statement after pulling out of the talks last week, ODM maintained that it had switched positions which meant that it wanted a Cabinet of 34 instead of 40 that had been proposed by PNU.

Now that a Cabinet of 40 has been announced as per PNU’s plans, ODM appears to have lost both the bargain on the identity of Ministries it wanted and the size of the cabinet. From the view of ODM-Scandinavia, this amounts to a defeat within the context of “real power sharing” after PNU stole elections last December. We take the view that a Cabinet of 40 is a bloated Cabinet that will be too expensive for the Tax payer.

ODM Scandinavia believes that the configuration of the Cabinet which ODM has accepted means that the Party ought to prepare for fresh confrontations with PNU during the governing process because of inherent problems likely to pop up during inter-Ministerial collaboration needed for smooth running of government.

Given the acrimony that characterized the negotiations (from Kofi Anan to a bloated Cabinet), the mutual suspicions, intransigence on the part of PNU, outright distrust between the protagonists and a vicious struggle for control of power, Kenyans should accept that the country has seen the birth of two governments masquerading as a “Grand Coalition” with one government being led by President Kibaki and his 20 Cabinet ministers on the one hand and another government being led by Raila Odinga with an equal number of Cabinet Ministers on the other. The most likely scenario is that PNU Ministers will be inclined to answer to Kibaki while ODM Minister will tend to listen more to Raila Odinga.

If this view were to be accepted, then PNU is definitely the powerful side of government by virtue of the powerful Ministries it holds like Defence, Internal security, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Energy, Information and Communication just to mention a few of the “Power Ministries”.

A big loophole as ODM enters into this fragile Coalition with thieves in PNU is that the question of “power sharing” in other critical government Institutions has neither been discussed nor in the agenda for discussions.

THE ENEMY WITHIN
Top positions in the Civil Service whose occupiers are traditionally appointed by the Office of The President have not been ear marked for sharing between the two parties. In previous exchanges, PNU seriously resisted attempts by ODM to have these positions discussed with a view to including them in the power sharing deal. Unless the issue is revisited in future, the assumption is that PNU will continue to call the shots in the appointment of these Civil servants thereby downgrading the concept of real power sharing.

Since ODM has accepted to enter into the Coalition, the Party needs a new approach in its politics with PNU because our perspective is that the future will be rout with conflicts, new political wars and fresh confrontations that will make it impossible for the Coalition to deliver to the Kenyan people.

PNU should not be in government because it lost elections but circumstances have placed the Party at the center of power. What ODM should focus on now is to utilize its position in the coalition to not just change the rules of the game but to reform key Institutions in preparation for next elections.

An Institution like the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) which plunged the country into crisis after heavily abetting in election rigging needs a total overhaul to prevent a repeat of election rigging in future.

Secondly, ODM should use its position in government to check PNU excesses especially corruption and theft of public funds through other means. The attitude of ODM should be that the Coalition government they have entered into is a “transitory government” in preparation for next elections because the ghost of rigging that still lurks in the background will never disappear.

An important element of the Peace accord is that if any of the Parties pulls out of the Coalition, the government has to be dissolved to pave way for new elections. For this reason, ODM should not make any further compromises to PNU while in government and once the necessary restructuring of relevant government institutions has been done, the Party should begin to root for elections because it has the Mass movement behind it.

An election will cut short the control of power by PNU and since Kibaki does not have the people’s mandate to rule Kenya, there is no reason why PNU should be allowed to rule for the next five years.

The biggest gain since the crisis began on December 30th is that the post of Prime Minister has been entrenched in the Constitution and there is little PNU can do to change the situation. The PMs post has, for now, reduced the powers of President considerably and this is a welcome development in the struggle to democratize Kenya.

Because of ODM’s popularity, the general public mood to oust PNU from power and assuming that there are no significant changes in political alignments, any election in Kenya in the near future has the capacity of according ODM both the Presidency and the Prime Minister’s position.

For this reason, ODM should not waver or sit on its laurels simply because it is part of a fake Coalition government. The Party’s leadership should always remember that it has decided to dine with the rattle snakes on the same table because of complex circumstances. The whole country will be watching ODM’s style of politics as the coalition begins to govern. The view of ODM Scandinavia is that the mother Party ought to be on the look out because there is a lethal “enemy within” in the government. The unfinished business is the defeat and the vanquishing of this enemy. Entering into a Coalition government with this enemy is just part of the battle. Defeating it is the ultimate goal and ODM should not lose focus of this important agenda as it goes to bed with PNU.

Okoth Osewe
Secretary
ODM-Scandinavia

April 14, 2008 - Posted by makozewe | Uncategorized