Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Deal: Government in reverse gear?


By Standard Team

The Government appeared to engage reverse gear that could take momentum off a speedy enactment of the National Accord and Reconciliation Bill 2008, even as MPs prepared to discuss the landmark peace deal tomorrow.

When Head of Civil Service Mr Francis Muthaura emerged to "make a clarification" on the structure of Government on Monay, citing what he described as concerns created by various media reports, he appeared to suggest that in spite of a power-sharing deal, the office of an all-powerful presidency remains intact.

In itself, the timing appeared to send the wrong signals hardly a fortnight after the signing of a brittle political settlement that hauled the country out of a crippling post election impasse, which left at least 1,000 people dead and half a million others huddled in IDP camps.

Issued on the eve of the reconvening of Parliament and resumption of mediation talks that will thrash out the issue of portfolio balance, Muthaura’s statement amounted to putting the cart before the horse.

Today, MPs will start debating two proposed laws to legalise the envisaged grand coalition government — the National Accord and Reconciliation Bill 2008 and the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2008 — published on Thursday.

The two-page power-sharing agreement, which came after intense international pressure and mediation by former United Nations chief, Dr Kofi Annan, seemed to serve as a contract to pull Kenya back from the brink.

In his statement, Muthaura seemed to imply that even though the Office of the Prime Minister would be created, the President would continue to enjoy unbridled executive powers in a business-as-usual kind of scenario.

He sought to lower the stature of the PM’s office, which he said would come third in the protocol pecking order, and therefore it would be unlikely that the PM would supervise the VP if the latter holds a ministerial position.

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