A special five-hour meeting chaired by President Kibaki turned stormy and threatened to split the Cabinet as ministers differed over ODM’s demands for a lean Government and portfolio balance.
The meeting, which began at 10.30am in President Kibaki’s Harambee House office, elicited passions when the issue of implementation of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act came up although it was not among the issues listed for discussion.
After the emotive issue, it was apparent that the Cabinet had split into two distinct opinions. Sources at the meeting told The Standard that though power-sharing was not on the agenda, it persisted for long after a minister suggested that President Kibaki speeds up the naming of a new Cabinet. The minister reportedly told the President that Kenyans were anxious for a settlement to the political crisis.
"Your Excellency, Kenyans are anxious to have the matter resolved once and for all. They need a final settlement to the Cabinet stalemate," said the minister, adding that: "It is time we gave ODM what they have requested." But at this point, another minister shot up and argued that some ODM demands were unrealistic and if accepted, amounted to ceding all power to it.
"I think what we have offered to cede should be enough to satisfy ODM. Some of their demands are unrealistic," said the minister.
When the exchange heated up, President Kibaki stepped in and told the ministers that he was scheduled to meet ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga, today for further talks. That effectively ended debate on the matter. Some ministers felt strongly that not all names ODM would present for appointment should be accepted. They said MPs tainted by corruption or those linked to post-election violence should not be given Cabinet positions. If they got positions, some said, it would be akin to rewarding them.
"We should demand a clean Cabinet. Not all the names from ODM should be accepted. We promised Kenyans a clean Cabinet and we should honour our word," the minister said.
Earlier, expectations were high that the meeting would discuss portfolio balance and the size of the Cabinet and, in the process, speed up the naming of new ministers. But an insider said the issue could not be discussed because the ministers were interested parties.
"The issue did not come up. How can we discuss it and we are interested parties? Supposing it was said we have a Cabinet of 20 ministers — 10 of us would have to go," said another minister.
Missing from the meeting
In attendance were Vice-President, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, Mr Amos Kimunya (Finance), whose docket is one of the key portfolios ODM has targeted, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta (Local Government), Mr John Michuki (Roads), Prof George Saitoti (Internal Security), Mr Yusuf Haji (Defence), Prof Sam Ongeri (Education), Mr Chirau Mwakwere (Transport), Ms Martha Karua (Justice and Constitutional Affairs) and Mr John Munyes (Water).
Others were Dr Naomi Shaban (Special Programmes), Mr Asman Kamama (Public Service), Mr Wilfred Machage (East African Co-operation), Mr Kiraitu Murungi (Energy), and Mr Samuel Poghisio (Information). Attorney-General, Mr Amos Wako, and Head of Civil Service, Mr Francis Muthaura, were also at the meeting.
But Mr Moses Wetangula (Foreign Affairs) and Dr Noah Wekesa (Science and Technology) were absent. Wetangula was said to have travelled abroad, while Wekesa was said to be on his way from Kitale for the meeting.
But when contacted, Wekesa said he had not been informed of the meeting and only read about it in the newspapers on Monday. He said he was told that Muthaura had announced the meeting over the radio, but he never got the message.
"Nobody told me about the meeting. Muthaura should even have rung the DC if he could not reach me. He has all the machinery at his disposal. Not everybody listens to the radio," Wekesa told The Standard.
At the end of the meeting, the ministers left in two groups and remained tight-lipped and even avoided a battery of journalists that had been waiting.
After the first group left Harambee House, President Kibaki followed shortly, but ministers Uhuru, Kiraitu, Saitoti, Kimunya and Haji remained behind. It was not immediately clear what they were discussing.
Later, the Presidential Press Service (PPS) issued a statement that steered clear of the power-sharing discussion and instead dwelt on issues of Government operations.
The statement said, among other issues, that the meeting discussed the resettlement of the displaced people, the East African Community Treaty, anomalies in KCSE examination results and the Safaricom IPO. The ministers, the statement said, would encourage wananchi to buy the mobile phone company’s shares
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Story by Joseph Murimi and Abiya Ocholla
Published on April 1, 2008, 12:00 am
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