Kibaki threatens to sack his ministers

Sources said that Mr Ruto was told to take charge of matters in his ministry and give the true picture of the maize situation so that the Government could tackle current famine from an informed position.

The meeting, whose main agenda was implementation of the Waki report on post-election violence, also addressed the ongoing teachers’ strike that has paralysed learning in public primary schools. The Cabinet resolved that the government pays the raised teachers salary in two years.

The President is said to have demanded that any troubling issues in the Cabinet should be raised within the correct channels.

A source told the Nation: “We were seriously criticised and blamed for taking strong positions against the behaviour of some people in the government.

“We were told to respect each other and stop attacks in public and that if there was any problem we should raise it in cabinet.”

The President ordered all ministers to attend a national reconciliation conference scheduled for Wednesday next week. The three-day conference titled; “One Kenya, One Dream: The Kenya We Want” which was initially scheduled to kick off on Monday, will be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi.

On the Waki report, sources told the Nation that seven Cabinet ministers sought to amend a draft Bill for the Special Tribunal for Kenya to delete clauses that could end political careers of those suspected to have sponsored post-election violence.

The sources said that the ministers warned that the draft Bill could face opposition in Parliament if the clauses were not amended before it was published. Five ministers were from PNU and two from ODM.

The ministers argued that the Bill should not be used to settle political scores. The Waki Commission named six Cabinet ministers and five MPs among prominent people to be investigated for their roles in the post-election violence.

The list was handed to former UN secretary general Kofi Annan for safe keeping until a tribunal is been set up locally or to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

But given that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga signed an agreement to set up a local tribunal, it now means that the names will be handed over to the tribunal once it comes into operation.

Sources said the deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi, Mr Orengo and Justice minister Martha Karua strongly defended the contents of the draft Bill arguing that tough measures have to be taken to end the culture of impunity.

Reported by Bernard Namunane, Oliver Mathenge, and Kenneth Ogosia