Avoid internal wrangles, ministers told

Published on May 11, 2008, 12:00 am
By Sunday Standard Team

The two-day bonding meeting ended amid ministers fears that internal competition and unorthodox manoeuvres as politicians prepare for 2012 General Election could be the Grand Coalition’s Achilles heel.
Sources at the closed-door bonding session said ministers were in agreement that the grand coalition was a compromise and there was need to contain harmful internal competition.

Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti touched off a sensitive subject when he talked of politicians who spent most of their time working for the downfall of the others.
He said some politicians try to gain advantage over others by working to bring them down through hate speech.
"Let us be each others’ keeper and protector. If we spend most of our time plotting the downfall of our colleagues because we want to be seen in good light in 2012, then this coalition will not survive the test of time," Saitoti is said to have warned.
The source said Saitoti warned against hate speech and character assassination, especially during elective sessions.

Saitoti was commenting on a question by Transport minister Mr Chirau Mwakwere. He wanted to know measures the Internal Security ministry had put in place to protect Cabinet ministers against potentially damaging allegations.
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, in his closing speech, urged members of the Government to shun parochial politics and be guided by the national good.
The ministers resolved to tone down on hate utterances, especially during by-elections campaigns, to ensure cohesion.

The ministers also resolved to read from the same script on all issues of governance.
"If we support each other and come to the defence of one another in public, then we cannot go wrong at all and the coalition will definitely survive the five years," Saitoti said during his presentation on protective security.

Kalonzo said going by the newfound spirit, Kenya was headed for great times if leaders put aside their differences for the sake of the greater purpose of serving the people.
The members also came up with radical proposals that are likely to have positive ramifications to the national fabric that had been ripped apart by the bungled 2007 General Election.

Doubts

Political pundits have equally expressed concern that the Kibaki Succession would render the coalition unworkable as politicians take positions ahead of the 2012 elections.
And as the two-day induction course came to a close, proposals on how to achieve national cohesion were made.
Some key proposals were legislation against anti-nationalist agitation, like the one witnessed during last year’s elections, and hate speech.

Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Dr Ludeki Chweya suggested the introduction of political pilgrimage, where parliamentary candidates vie in constituencies outside "home" province.
But Mwakwere said his suggestion was utopian.