Reforms: Annan jets in to meet Kibaki, Raila

By Biketi Kikechi

The chief broker of Kenya’s historic power sharing deal in 2008 Dr Kofi Annan flies into the storm raging in the constitution review front when he lands in Nairobi today.

The former UN secretary general, who pushed the buttons of global diplomacy to bring President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to the negotiating table, said he is looking forward to meeting them.

The man Kenyans fondly refer to as Chief Mediator, because of his role as the arbiter between Kibaki’s Party of National Unity and Raila’s Orange Democratic Movement during post-election violence, will be in the country for three days.

Curiously, though Annan returns to the country today, at a time when political rivalries and partisan political interests hamstring the constitution review, he is flying into Kenya on the day Parliament is expected to debate the Proposed Constitution.

Parallel to meeting Kenyan leaders and stakeholders in the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation (KNDR) process, Annan will also chair meetings convened by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa where he chairs the Board of Directors.

Held back

Portland Communications, his media consultants, also announced Annan will address Kenyans on his findings on Friday.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan jets in the country today to meet President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga over the constitutional review process. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Last year Annan warned the window of opportunity for Kenya to carry out reforms outside the sphere of political campaigns ahead of 2012 elections was closing fast.

He advised the reform process had to be completed by 18 months to the elections. However, he will be met by news the Proposed Constitution is being held back by war over the number and type of devolved units of government and the fate of the Transitional Clauses negotiated under his watch to ensure a smooth transition from the current to the new constitution.

Annan arrives when Kibaki and Raila Odinga are expected to make a last ditch effort to salvage the constitution review process by whipping their MPs to the fold.

Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo said even though the chief mediator would not be at the meeting convened by the Speaker tomorrow, he should be invited to attend debate in the afternoon. "Annan should sit at the Speaker’s gallery to follow debate on the constitution because this document, apart from being part of Agenda Four, is everything to Kenyans,’ argued Kilonzo.

The Proposed Constitution largely covers Agenda Four of KNDR chaired by Annan.

The Speaker of National Assembly Kenneth Marende convened the informal meeting in which Kibaki and Raila have been called in to help smoothen the way for the document when it comes up for debate through consensus building. The kamukunji (informal meeting) is expected to strike a consensus between the coalition partners after they failed to agree at Kenya Institute of Administration’s retreat.

Kilonzo told The Standard Kibaki and Raila are expected in today’s meeting.

A media advisory sent to newsrooms yesterday said Mr Annan would be in the country from tomorrow to Friday.

His four-day visit comes when the two principals have differed on the approach to the fight against corruption. Last month, ODM met and resolved to boycott Cabinet meetings, and none have been held since the party’s Parliamentary Group made the decision.

The boycott came after the President revoked the PM’s suspension of Agriculture Minister William Ruto and his Education counterpart Prof Sam Ongeri to facilitate investigation of corruption in their ministries.

During the standoff, ODM members invited Annan to resolve the wrangles as PNU and ODM MPs allied to Ruto laughed it off. "Annan should be having better things to do unless he is an idler," said Ruto, who was a member of the Serena ‘8’ who negotiated the structure of the Coalition Government in early 2008..

Raila complained he is never consulted whenever appointments were done as required by the National Accord. "Where is the Accord when you hear statements like there is only one appointing authority?" Raila asked in an interview a few weeks ago.

Before that, Raila had expressed willingness to meet with Kibaki to resolve differences in the Coalition but no such meeting took place.

The two have, however, continued putting on brave faces at public meetings, perhaps using the impasse for political expediency.

But that has not helped the delicate process of constitution making because each side appears keen to accuse the other as anti-reform.

Unaddressed

The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Bethuel Kiplagat started its work but issues that lead to the recurrence of violence after elections remain largely unaddressed. It has emerged PNU was not happy with the distribution of 25 regions agreed by the MPs at the KIA retreat last week and therefore wants the 47 counties proposed by the Committee of Experts (CoE) retained.

The Kabete retreat had agreed to scrap the 47 counties and instead divide the country into 25 administrative units.

"The 25 administrative units are just the current eight provinces chopped into tiny bits," said ODM Deputy Party Leader Musalia Mudavadi in a party statement.

The party has also vowed to reject any proposal to postpone the effective date of the new constitution any further than 14 days after the referendum results are gazetted.

"Any attempt to remove the Transitional Clauses as proposed by CoE would jeopardise the transition to a new constitutional dispensation," said Mudavadi.

Among other issues, the clauses compel the President to continue consulting the PM on governance issues as outlined in the Accord after the promulgation of the new document.

Resolve dispute

President Kibaki’s son Jimmy is among those who have rejected the involvement of Annan in resolving the dispute between PNU and ODM.

"They said let us call Kofi Annan because there is a crisis in the Government. Mzee (President Kibaki) asked what crisis? He said there was someone trying to exercise powers he did not have," said Jimmy over the weekend.

Among achievements so far realised by the Annan team include the establishment of the Waki Commission, whose report will be used to try post elections violence suspects at the International Criminal Court.

The Kriegler Commission also successfully completed its work, and police reforms are currently being undertaken as recommended by its report.

Other commissions already in place as proposed by KNDR include the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) and the Interim Independent Boundaries Commission (IIBRC).