Saturday, March 5, 2011

Kibaki is in good health and fully in charge, says Kalonzo

By LUCAS BARASA lbarassa@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Friday, March 4 2011 at 22:00

President Kibaki is in good health and fully in charge of the country’s affairs, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka said on Friday.
Speaking a day after a diplomatic cable indicated that he had wanted President Kibaki to step down before the last elections on the grounds of ill health, the VP said: “Kibaki is standing tall, strong and confident.”
Mr Musyoka, who spoke before welcoming President Kibaki to award a charter to Africa International University, lavished praise on the Head of State, saying he had transformed the country’s infrastructure.
A calm President did not respond to the WikiLeaks claims. “We thank God for the President and wish him long life…so that WikiLeaks can be disgraced,” Mr Musyoka said.
The Mwingi North MP expressed disgust at newspaper headlines on the WikiLeaks reports saying he is on the spot.
“The reports want to take us back to the dark days when we almost fell off the cliff,” Mr Musyoka said, adding: “That is not the way to go.”
He quoted the Bible’s Philippians, Chapter 4, where Paul says we should stop worrying about our past.
The cable released on Thursday claimed Mr Musyoka wanted then US President George Bush to prevail upon President Kibaki to step down before the 2007 polls, apparently on the grounds of ill health.
US ambassador Michael Ranneberger claimed in the cable that Mr Musyoka knew he had no chance of winning the election but was determined to play spoiler for his bitter rival Raila Odinga, and kingmaker for Mr Kibaki.
The ambassador describes Mr Musyoka as an opportunist and an intellectual lightweight.
On Friday, President Kibaki steered clear of the cables, which he heavily criticised at national celebrations at Nyayo Stadium last year for questioning his reform credentials.
The President, who was accompanied by acting Higher Education minister Hellen Sambili, said the Constitution encouraged Kenyans to develop a system of national values “which will give us a new and distinct identity as Kenyans”.
“The faiths sector must help Kenya to broaden the secular dimension of values by contributing to a framework of moral and ethical values. I say this because constitutional norms, devoid of a spiritual foundation cannot be a proper basis for an enduring rule of law.”

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