JACOB OWITI | NATION Suspended Higher Education minister William Ruto addresses youths during a stopover in Kisumuon March 20, 2011 after a rally in Bungoma. He was accompanied by Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa (left) and former MP Omingo Magara. Mr Ruto denied reports that he sponsored the post-election chaos.
By Emeka-mayaka Gekaragmayaka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, March 21 2011 at 22:00
Posted Monday, March 21 2011 at 22:00
Politics revolving around the trial of post-election violence suspects and supremacy wars between coalition partners is expected to cloud House business as MPs continue with their Fourth Session.
There are fears that implementation of the new Constitution will be the major casualty of the likely showdown between President Kibaki’s PNU and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM.
Other battles would emanate from plans by the PNU to pull out of the grand coalition and postpone the next election.
A group of MPs led by Local Government assistant minister Lewis Nguyai and Jamleck Kamau (Kigumo) have declared that they will push for postponement of elections if the case against the Ocampo Six is not resolved by next year.
They allege that the case against Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta was a conspiracy to deny him a chance to run for president.
“Those behind this scheming will be disappointed because we shall have no election until the ICC issue is resolved,” he said.
MPs return to the House in an acrid environment highly poisoned by animosity over imminent trials of key politicians at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Efforts to persuade the ICC that Kenya is ready to try the post-election violence suspects at home may also see the return of a Bill for setting up a local special court for the cases.
Notably, Parliament resumes business at a time when the PNU side of the coalition is emboldened by its high numbers, apparently enjoying the support of MPs opposed to Mr Odinga.
Re-energized by the higher numbers, the PNU side could re-introduce the Bill with the hope that it would mobilise sufficient support to pass it.
The constant threat to move a no-confidence vote against Mr Odinga and the unresolved matter of delimitation of constituency boundaries would certainly provide ammunition for supremacy fights.
Efforts by the Orange group to reconstitute House committees by withdrawing rebel members from critical House teams is also likely to be a major fight.
Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, who chairs the Oversight Committee on the Implementation of the Constitution, has sounded the alarm over the process.
“Politics around the next election and the possible trial of the post-election violence suspects pose the greatest challenge and could distort the constitutional implementation,” he told the Nation on Monday.
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