A ceasefire, for now

Coalition parties tussled over government jobs in a tense three-hour meeting on Thursday which ended with a public display of camaraderie. Both sides displayed a willingness to come to some sort of agreement but Orange party was adamant that President Kibaki needed to consult Prime Minister Raila Odinga before making key government appointments, arguing that the two principals shared executive authority.

The Party of National Unity members in the talks countered that though they agreed with the principle of consultation, the Constitution was clear on the office with the ultimate authority to make appointments – the presidency.

These were the highlights of Thursday’s meeting of the Permanent Committee on the Management of the Grand Coalition Affairs chaired by the President Kibaki and attended by Mr Odinga. The two coalition partners fell out three weeks ago after a failed meeting during which ODM asked for a review of the power sharing agreement.

On Thursday, the meeting gave the committee’s secretariat, headed by joint secretaries Prof Kivutha Kibwana (PNU) and Mr Miguna Miguna (ODM), a week to work out a formula for consultation between the President and the premier on appointments and other important policy decisions.

“The issue of executive appointments was extensively and cordially discussed. It was resolved that the joint secretaries will, at the next meeting, present a paper on the mechanisms of consultations required for such appointments bearing in mind the existing law,” the joint secretaries said in a statement.

The same paper, it was understood, will also detail the forms of consultations between the President and the PM on key government decisions and announcements. ODM ministers and assistant ministers, who had been meeting at Treasury since morning, demanded a review of all public appointments since March 28, 2008, to ensure that ODM got its fair share in Government.

They also demanded that all appointments be consultative and should not be made without an agreement between both parties. Mr Odinga should approve all executive appointments in public service and diplomatic service alongside President Kibaki, they demanded. Such appointments ought to include those of military and police bosses and permanent secretaries, they said.

“We agreed that all executive appointments must be done in consultation with the PM, if not they will be taken as null and void. All appointments must be signed by both principals after consultations,” a minister who attended the Treasury meeting but asked not to be named in order to speak freely, told the Nation.

Mr Odinga has said he is not consulted on key public appointments, visits of heads of states and other high level government matters. On Thursday, President Kibaki opened the meeting by saying there was only one government and pledged to work closely with the PM to ensure coalition unity.

He regretted the hostility publicly displayed by coalition partners and proposed that problems be tackled within the coalition without spilling to the public but warned that the airing of coalition differences in public does not augur well for the country. Mr Odinga reminded members at the meeting of the turn of events three weeks ago at the Kilaguni Lodge and said publicity could have been avoided if the two sides had been honest with each other.

He was said to have questioned the presence of civil servants and the media at the Kilaguni meeting even though it had been agreed that the meeting was to be closed-door, with members only present. This, he said, gave the impression that there were two governments in which members take sides on issues with an open display of disrespect.

“He stated that the government must be one. He called for frank and open discussions that would lead to the resolution of issues affecting the grand coalition. He urged all round respect and understanding among members of the grand coalition government,” the joint statement said in reference to Mr Odinga’s speech.

The meeting, still agreed on the need to push through the institutional, legal and constitutional reforms detailed in the National Accord. The committee would play a leading role in rallying the support of MPs when Bills on reforms are taken to Parliament.

Thursday’s meeting was convened after Mr Odinga, on behalf of ODM, wrote to President Kibaki on Wednesday stressing the need to solve outstanding issues between the coalition partners and implementation of reforms as stated in the National Accord. He asked the President to postpone Thursday’s Cabinet meeting and instead convene a session of the coalition committee to resolve thorny issues threatening their cohabitation in government.

He was called to Nairobi's Harambee House for a meeting with the President during which they agreed on Thursday’s session of the committee. Mr Odinga had chaired a meeting of ODM ministers and assistant ministers at the Treasury where it was agreed that they would boycott all Cabinet meetings until the outstanding issues were resolved.