It’s all up to House teams as Kibaki and Raila talks collapse

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga Monday failed to strike a deal on the controversial list of nominees for four top government jobs and resolved to let Parliament determine their fate.

The principals were meeting for the first time following a week of acrimony triggered by the announcement of the nominees for the positions of Chief Justice, Attorney General, Director of Public Prosecutions and Controller of Budget.

But the talks ended in a stalemate and the two said they would accept Parliament’s decision.

This dispute will be handled by the Finance, Trade and Planning Committee chaired by Nambale MP Chris Okemo (ODM), and the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chaired by Ababu Namwamba (ODM).

“On the issue of the nominations to fill State offices currently under consideration by Parliament, the two Principals agreed to respect the ongoing parliamentary process and its outcome,” said a Presidential Press Service statement.

While agreeing with the PPS statement, the PM’s adviser, Mr Salim Lone, said the meeting did not reach an agreement on the names, but the two leaders were confident that the list before the two House committees will be rejected and returned to them for a fresh start that is in line with the requirements of the Constitution.

Said Mr Lone: “There was no agreement on the list of nominations during the meeting. However, since Parliament had started the procedure of determining whether the nominations were constitutional, it cannot be stopped from outside.”

President Kibaki and Mr Odinga who have come under local and international pressure to resolve the stand-off over the names, hastily assured the public that they would respect the provisions of the Constitution in any appointments to top State jobs.

“The two Principals assured Kenyans that they will observe the letter and spirit of the Constitution in implementation of the Constitution including the appointment to State Offices,” said the statement.

Mr Odinga arrived at Harambee House at 12.15pm accompanied by PS Mohammed Isahakiah for the meeting that was expected to resolve the stalemate over the nominations, which the High Court has ruled as unconstitutional.

The stalemate over the list was triggered two weeks ago, when President Kibaki nominated Court of Appeal Judge Alnashir Visram to become the next CJ, lawyers Githu Muigai (AG) and Kioko Kilukumi (DPP), stating that he had done so in consultation with the PM.

The following day, on arrival from Addis Ababa, Mr Odinga denounced the names stating that he was not consulted. Last week, Mr Odinga repeated the same position in Parliament after VP Kalonzo Musyoka had given a detailed account of President Kibaki’s last minute efforts on January 28, 2011 to reach the PM in Ethiopia to seal the deal.

The two principals were also on opposite ends when President Kibaki submitted the list of the nominees to National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende. Mr Odinga wrote a letter to the Speaker, which was also published in the daily papers, asking for the list to be rejected on the grounds that he was not consulted in line with the provisions of the Constitution.

Last week, Mr Marende declined to make a ruling on the two letters and referred them to the Parliamentary committees of Justice and Legal Affairs and Finance and Planning. The Justice committee is chaired by Budalang’i MP Namwamba while Finance is headed by Nambale’s Mr Okemo.

The teams on Monday started working to establish whether the correct procedure was followed before the nominations were announced.

At the same time, Mr Lone said the PM was sure the list of the nominees will be rejected by the two House committees.

Fate of nominees

“The PM is confident that Parliament will send back the nominations to the two principals. The President and the PM will then ensure that the constitutional requirements for the submission of such nominations is adhered to,” he said.

However, sources in PNU, the President’s party, said they would push for Parliament to determine the fate of the nominees.

Before the 12.20pm meeting, the President met a strong team of ministers, among them Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, to agree on the issues that he will put on the table when he meets the PM.

Others at the meeting were deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta, Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi, joint coalition Chief Whip Johnstone Muthama, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia.

Mr Musyoka left five minutes after the arrival of the PM at 12.15pm while Mr Kenyatta, in the company of Mr Muthama, left 10 minutes later. Mr Kiraitu left Harambee House at 12.20pm.

Sources said they were categorical that the fate of the nominees should be determined on the floor of the House by MPs. This, they said, was prompted by the understanding that they had the support of ODM MPs who were allied to suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto.

To show the PNU strategy of defeating Mr Odinga on the floor of the House, the PNU team of ministers had held an earlier meeting at Harambee House with Mr Ruto who was accompanied by Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgei and MPs Henry Kosgey and Charles Keter to agree.

Sources said Mr Ruto and his allies assured the PNU team of their support to ensure that the nominees are approved by Parliament. The changes, especially in the Judiciary, are crucial to Kenya’s bid to convince the UN Security Council to defer the case against the Ocampo Six at the International Criminal Court.

Civil service head Muthaura, deputy PM Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, who are playing key roles in the matter, are among six suspects to be tried for their role in the 2008 post-election violence.

The PPS stated: “The two Principals reiterated the position of the Government that Kenya has always preferred that the cases be dealt with through a local legal mechanism. To that end, the Grand Coalition Government has embarked on the critical appointments in the Judicial system to ensure that the country has a credible local Judicial mechanism to competently and comprehensively deal with the cases relating to post election violence.”

At the moment, the PPS said, the government has embarked on a campaign to rally members of the UN Security Council to vote for deferment of the case.

“The one year deferment will give the country the necessary time to establish the local mechanism as envisaged in the ongoing Constitutional Reforms.”

Additional reporting by John Ngirachu and Alphonce Shiundu