Hope
over PM deal / Deal in the making / Kenyan rivals in possible breakthrough
on PM
Thu
21 Feb 2008, 16:47 GMT
NAIROBI, Feb 21 (Reuters)
Publication Date: 2/22/2008
DAILY NATION - NAIROBI
STANDARD NAIROBI
Government and ODM negotiators Thursday closed ranks and agreed on the creation of the position of a Prime Minister.
It was a major step in a process that may be inching closer to a break-through in the search for a settlement to end the post-election political crisis.
The step could brighten the faces of thousands of Kenyans who have borne the brunt of the post-election violence and members of the international community that has consistently exerted pressure on President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to end the political dispute.
End the crisis: Buoyed by the stage of the talks that are aimed at ending the crisis, chief mediator, Mr Annan said: “ I’m beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
The news also came as President Kibaki talked in Kirinyaga where he told mourners at a funeral that the country will overcome the political crisis and return to the economic agenda. “Let us put everything before God and we will overcome all the challenges the country is currently facing,” he said.
And the US State Department expressed optimism on the status of the talks between the Kenyan government and opposition. “We have seen progress made through (former UN secretary-general) Kofi Annan’s efforts, working with the parties,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters in Washington. “They do have an overall framework agreement. Sometimes the most difficult part of the process is having the details of some kind of a broader government and the organisation of it, who gets what ministries and all that, sometimes takes a while to work out,” he said.
Two members of the mediation team spoke similar words and expressed confidence that a peace deal was on the way to end the political dispute ........... Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo described what they had struck as a balanced agreement that may not please everybody while his Eldoret North counterpart William Ruto stated that they were making concessions fully aware that the “weight of the responsibilities on our shoulders is high.”
Former UN legal counsel Hans Corell from Sweden has been seconded to the working group as a facilitator.
The team met on Wednesday evening until 8.30pm and came up with a draft of powers and functions that were presented to the entire mediation team Thursday morning and were endorsed before they adjourned earlier until Friday.
Sources close to the mediation team, however, revealed that the proposed premier could hold non-executive powers and will be accountable to the President in the performance of his work.
Sources said that it was being proposed that the PM cannot be sacked by the President and he or she comes from the party with majority in Parliament. The issue will be discussed exhaustively Friday.
The premier’s role in Parliament will also be specified by the sub-committee.
This state of affairs will prevail until the time a comprehensive review of the Constitution is carried out to allow Kenyans to define the kind of the institution of the Presidency and the powers that will either be delegated or shared with the PM and the cabinet. The premier’s position, it also emerged, will be created through an Act of Parliament on the strengths of the provisions in Sections 16 and 23 of the Constitution. The first allows the President to appoint ministers from among MPs while the second gives Parliament the powers to “confer functions on persons or authorities other than the President.”
Accordingly, the PM will be accountable to the President in the exercise of his authority, and responsible to the Cabinet and Parliament in the coordination and supervision of the functions that will be vested in him.
In terms of the duties that were agreed upon, the PM will coordinate and supervise the functions and affairs of Government ministries and departments.
The premier will also allocate government responsibilities to two deputy Prime Ministers whose positions will be created in line with the deal that was struck by the mediators. The powers of the two deputy prime ministers will also be spelt out Friday by the working group.
It was also agreed that the PM will keep the President fully informed on government business and will be obliged to provide any official information to the Head of state any time it is requested.
The premier, still, will be under duty to perform any other functions that he will be assigned by the President or as the written law will require of him.
The step, which was a major break through in the search for political settlement, signalled the readiness of the two sides in the conflict to cede ground in their demands in order for peace to be achieved.
The team will now have to agree on the sharing of Cabinet positions and other key government posts.
On Thursday, both the PNU and ODM representatives appeared to be in jovial mood inside the negotiation room and while leaving. They chatted freely, cracked jokes and smiled in public for the first time since the negotiations started on January 29.