- Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Wangari Karua has quit the coalition government saying the government is blocking her reform agenda. She is the first Kenyan minister to resign from the Grand Coalition Government.
Her resignation comes just few days after President Kibaki appointed five new High Court judges and promoted two others to the Court of Appeal.
Ms Karua said the appointment of judges without her knowledge has undermined her authority as a minister. “If I feel as a Minister I am not helping Kenyans. Then it is not a must I remain one,” she told a news conference in Kenya.
Local reports said the resignation of the Minister has also pre-empted a plot by back benchers in Parliament to censure her for allegedly not doing enough to institute her proposed reforms in the justice system.
“If I am to conduct a reform agenda and every time we talk reforms people in government feel I am stepping on their toes then they have forgotten what reforms are,” she said.
Ms Karua had accused the Judiciary of being sluggish and anti-reform and laid the blame on the Chief Justice Evans Gicheru. She also lashed out at the Chief Justice, accusing him of blocking judicial reforms in the country and called for his removal.
Ms Karua who has been attacked by government top officials for not implementing reforms, has however defended her name by saying the top politicians were on her case for her vicious fight against corruption in the country.
Ms Karua was a key ally of President Mwai Kibaki and was his negotiator for the power-sharing deal to end the bloodshed after the disputed polls in 2007. The violence that broke out left 1,133 people dead and a further 350,000 displaced.
President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga formed the unity government in February 2008 ending almost two months of bloodshed.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español