afrol News - Kenya faces further threats

»
»
»
»
»
»
»
»

Kenya
Politics | Human rights | Society

Kenya faces further threats

afrol News, 20 February - Kenya's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has expressed disgust about the looming political deadlock over disputed election, warning to return to the street mass street protests within a week should the situation remains the same.

After several days of crisis talks coordinated by the former UN chief Kofi Annan, the government and the ODM had agreed on a power-sharing government to resolve the deadly unrests once and for all.

President Mwai Kibaki said he was “willing to work with and share government responsibilities" with the opposition.

He however warned that “any political solution that will be proposed must be in tandem with the current Kenyan constitution," which rules out the post of a Prime Minister.

"The constitution must serve as a guide while the mediation team discusses what legal and institutional reforms are needed to move the country forward," President Kibaki said.

The President's statement is a complete deviation from the expectation of the opposition that parliament should sit and pass constitutional changes that allow a power-sharing agreement.

Both sides could not agree on how the power-sharing government should work.

Kenyan MPs need to sit and pass a bill on the creation and empowering of a new Prime Minister.

Following meetings with Kibaki and Odinga, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged the two sides to come to an agreement.

"It can't be that there is simply the illusion of power-sharing, it has to be real," Rice said.

In a separate development, Kenya's Nobel peace laureate, Wangari Maathai, has said she had received death threats from the outlawed Mungiki sect.

Maathai, a former minister and member of the ruling Kikuyu tribe has been a leading voice of peace, calling on both the opposition and government to solve their problems.

"Because of opposing the government at all times, Professor Wangari Maathai, we have decided to look for your head very soon. Take care of your life," she read a text message to journalists in Nairobi.