afrol News, 15 January - It was not business as usual in Kenyan parliament where newly elected law makers in the government and opposition benches are engulfed in a rift over the election of the speaker of the country's 10th parliament.

Constitutionally, the speaker of parliament is the third most powerful person in Kenya. With each rival side trying to clinch the position, deputies deadlocked on the mode of electing the speaker, exchanging heated arguments.

Fear of their seats being hi-jacked by the main opposition Orange Democratic Movement, deputies close to the ruling PNU rushed to parliament to take up their seats.

Flanked by the deputies of his pentagon members, the ODM leader, Raila Odinga has occupied the seat of the opposition leader in parliament. Odinga was received with standing ovation by ODM MPs, but they refused to stand up when President Kibaki entered the parliament.

Odinga's party has been at loggerheads with the government, sounding bell against electoral fraud in favour of President Kibaki. The post-electoral violence has claimed several lives in Kenya, displaced thousands of people and cause huge damages to the country's economy.

The clerk of the parliament find it tough to contain the bitter argument around electing the speaker. ODM/NARC MPs insisted voting to be done publicly, arguing that their candidate was cheated in the secret ballot system of voting during the presidential polls.

No MP is yet to be sworn in because this can only take place after the election of the speaker. Observers pointed out that either side could win the post of a speaker.

Apart from the deployment of heavy security presence in Nairobi's city centre to counter any opposition protest, the police also sealed several roads and streets leading to the parliament and its environment.

Meanwhile, Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) disclosed that militias had been on the payroll of politicians to fuel bloody post-electoral unrest in the country.

According to KHRC executive director, investigations reveal that well-trained and organised militia groups of 15 people had carried out targeted killings in a community in the Rift Valley province against the ruling Kikuyu tribe.

Muthoni Wanyeki said her organisation knows both the attackers and organisers behind the ethnic cleansing.

“We have documented both the names of the attackers and organizers of the attacks,” Wanyeki said.

Wanyeki said angered by the ethnic cleansing, the outlawed Kikuyu religious sect, Mungiki, has deployed its members in the Rift Valley to revenge and protect the community's Kikuyus.

KHRC chief scolded the police for their cruel killing of people many opposition strongholds, including Kisumu, Western Kenya.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories