Coalition ‘a model for dictators’

By Kevin J Kelley, New York
Posted  Thursday, April 14 2011 at 20:06

Kenya’s coalition government appears to have become a model for African dictators desperate to hold onto power, Prime Minister Raila Odinga told a Washington audience on Wednesday.

He cited Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe as one such example.

“Kenya’s case is not dissimilar to the power-sharing arrangement negotiated between Mr Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai,” Mr Odinga said.

Mr Mugabe was able to retain control over key levers of government, he added, implying that Zimbabwe’s unity government had enabled a leader lacking in democratic legitimacy to cling to power.

In his 20-minute speech on Wednesday, Mr Odinga said that he regarded himself the legitimate winner of the 2007 election.

Recounting his efforts to persuade Laurent Gbagbo to leave office despite the Côte d’Ivoire leader’s insistence that he had won the election, Mr Odinga said he told him: “I also won an election, but I’m not the president.”

He was addressing Obama administration officials, diplomats, academics and business executives at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.