Annan warns over rift in Coalition Government

By Steve Mkawale

The rift in the Coalition Government is likely to widen as the 2012 General Election approaches, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has predicted.

South Consulting, a research firm contracted to monitor reforms and performance of the Coalition Government, said in its latest report that the rift could threaten implementation of the Constitution.

The report noted that ‘faultlines’ within the Cabinet have widened creating the image of a divided Government that is reflected in key decisions.

The Annan report posted on the website of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation that mediated the 2008 post-election violence, states 58 per cent of Kenyans feel that the coalition has a hard time working together to implement the Constitution.

But power sharing is not something many people would like to see in future, with 75 per cent of Kenyans saying they would not recommend it after another election.

It, however, shows that Kenyans would like the Coalition Government to remain in office until the next General Election. "But Kenyans are not dismissive of the Coalition Government, they are happy with the coalition because it secured peace and has gone on to deliver the Constitution," read the report.

Challenges

The survey that involved 2,000 respondents was conducted in March 2011 in all 47 counties.

It states that although the difference in the Government was between the two parties PNU and ODM, parochial and narrow short-term interests have gradually factionalised them and in the process fuelled the disputes within the Government.

On internally displaced persons (IDPS), the report observes that landlessness, corruption and lack of social cohesion remain the main challenges to finding lasting solution to their resettlement. The report notes that IDPs resettlement is one of the problems where the Coalition Government has failed to demonstrate leadership.

"It is only mentioned where politicians wish to generate political capital out of it," the report reads.