Food prices and ECK to top agenda of cabinet meeting

The fate of the Electoral Commission of Kenya is expected to top the agenda of a Cabinet meeting to be chaired by President Kibaki on Tuesday morning.

Also up for discussion are ways to stop the rapid rise in food prices, electricity, fuel and fares.

On that, the Cabinet will consider what other governments are doing to fight inflation and help their citizens cope with the aftermath of the financial crisis triggered by mortgage meltdown in the United States.

The Cabinet will use every means at its disposal to protect consumers and the economy at large, said acting Finance minister John Michuki.

Pump prices

The minister urged oil companies to act responsibly and “immediately reduce their pump prices”, in a statement issued in New York, where he was on his way home from a meeting of Commonwealth finance ministers held in Castries, St Lucia Island.

The fate of the ECK chaired by Mr Samuel Kivuitu will come up for discussion a day before President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga receive a report of the Commission inquiring into post-election violence.

The man who chaired the commission, Mr Justice Philip Waki, will hand a copy of the same report to former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan who mediated the peace.

The Waki report is said to be as critical of the ECK as was the Kriegler commission, which indicted the Kivuitu team for mishandling the election.

Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula said last week that a Cabinet sub-committtee has already endorsed the Kriegler report, which goes to the Cabinet for discussion on Tuesday.

The 42-member Cabinet has been pulling in different directions over the report, with Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka taking different positions.

The PM and ministers allied to the Orange Democratic Movement have maintained that the ECK should be disbanded to pave way for the comprehensive electoral reforms.

Mr Musyoka has led the other half of the Government in asking that the current commissioners stay until the necessary reforms take effect.

The Kriegler report released two weeks ago calls for a complete overhaul of the country’s electoral process including the possible replacement of the current team.

Though accepting most of the suggested reforms, some of the ECK commissioners have said they will not resign.

Exonerates them

The commissioners believe the Kriegler report exonerates them from any poll rigging.

US ambassador Michael Ranneberger has led envoys’ demands for the commissioners to quit, noting that the report was clear that the commissioners should step down.

The complementary Waki report on post-election violence comes after five months of investigations into the chaos that arose following the disputed 2007 Presidential election.

The dispute resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and the displacement and dispossession of more than 350,000 people.

Mr Annan, during his last visit to Kenya when he received the Kriegler report, noted there were outstanding tasks to be completed from earlier agreements, including reconciliation and the resettlement of internally displaced people.

The President is expected to make the report public within 14 days after receiving it.

It is expected to shed light on the organisers, financiers, perpetrators and causes of the chaos.

It is also expected to make recommendations on how to prevent a repeat of electoral violence, measures to bring those responsible to justice, ways of eradicating immunity and measures to promote national reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Cabinet minister William Ruto, Central Organisation of Trade Union secretary-general Francis Atwoli and manufacturers chairman Vimal Shah were among those who on Monday called for the Cabinet to intervene in the economic crisis.

Mr Ruto, the Agriculture minister said one way would be for the Government to set aside thousands of acres in areas where food does not grow readily to plant crops suited to producing biofuel.

“We want to explore biofuel technology to curb rising fuel costs,” Mr Ruto said.

The Government, he added, had set aside billions of shillings to buy maize to stabilise flour prices.

Mr Atwoli said: “We expect the Cabinet to control the escalating cost of living. Unlike in other countries we are not prepared to cause problems by going to the streets.”

He thanked the President for ordering a review of taxes that could lead to a cut in electricity prices.

Mr Atwoli said the high cost of fuel had led to the increase of food and transport costs. “Most middle class workers and low wage earners cannot afford food.

“Seventy per cent of their earnings go to food and they are left without money for shelter, school fees and other needs,” he said.

Exchange rate

The Association of Manufacturers’ Mr Shah said the country should improve its competitiveness in agricultural production to bring down the cost of food.

High exchange rates, he said, led to the high cost of imports, which determined prices in the supermarkets.

The price of basic foods had nearly doubled over the last 10 months with the public calling on the Government to step in to bring prices down.

Petrol hit an all-time high of Sh108 a litre, but has since fallen to Sh96 following a fall in global crude oil prices by nearly 50 per cent, from $137 to $80 a barrel.