Annan in Kenya to review reform progress

By Cyrus Ombati

Former UN Secretary General Dr Kofi Annan has been holding meetings with members of the civil society. Annan is in the country ahead of Thursday’s two-day conference organised by the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation (KNDR).

Sources said Annan arrived in Nairobi on Sunday at about 6.50 pm and was received by some government officials and driven to his hotel.

He has since then been holding meetings with members of the civil society in the country, who briefed him on the progress of the reforms.

The groups, which have been meeting Annan, are said to have handed him reports on the progress of the reforms and what has been hindering the same, informed sources said.

Annan is among top officials expected at the conference that will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is expected in kenya either Wednesday night or Thursday. He will meet both President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to brief them on those he intends to ask the Pre-Trial Chamber Court to indict before it breaks for Christmas.

The meeting dubbed Two Years on, Where Are We? will review the progress of reforms including the implementation of the new constitution, which is part of Agenda Four of the National Accord that ended the post-election violence in 2008.

Annan and Raila are listed among key speakers after the presentation of the progress report, but it was not immediately clear whether Ocampo will seize the opportunity to brief Kenyans on the status post-election violence case.

Annan, who heads the Panel of Eminent African Personalities, has called the meeting to take stock of reform progress agreed upon to deter future electoral-related violence.

The meeting, which comes at a period when the ICC is finalising investigations into suspected plotters and financiers of the post-election violence, will be attended by prominent personalities from the international community and local leaders.

A team of officials from The Hague is already in the country to attend the meeting, which comes three days before the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC is held in New York, USA.

Bringing to justice the people who played a key role in the post-election violence will be one of the issues to be discussed at the meeting.

Organisers of meeting said the opening of the conference will be telecast to the public just as would be the closing session on Friday.

The rest of the sessions will be held under the Chatham Rule that requires sources of information during the meeting kept confidential.

The conference has been divided into five panels, two on the opening day and three on Friday.

The institutions in the civil service, judiciary, police and devolution, which were created under the new constitution, will be among those to be discussed.

Another panel will handle key highlights in the Bill of Rights, law enforcement and demobilisation of armed gangs while the third one will discuss the resettlement of displaced people, the healing and co-existence between communities and regional imbalances.

The role of the media in the reform process will also feature as well as the way forward.