Thursday, March 22, 2012

RAILA WILL NOT QUIT COALITION



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PRIME Minister Raila Odinga will not walk out of the coalition government even if President Kibaki insists that elections be held in March next year. Five ODM ministers told the Star separately yesterday that they have asked Raila not to quit because it would be an exercise in futility. "Even if we pull out of the coalition, the President will simply reconstitute the cabinet and continue to govern as if nothing happened," said a senior ODM minister.
Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua has asked Raila to collapse the coalition government by October to force a December election. But Raila's close confidants have told the PM that this would disadvantage him before the election. The IEBC announced on Saturday that the election would take place on March 4, 2013.
Previously Raila had said he thought that the election should be on December 17 in the school holidays. Yesterday Kibaki failed to meet Raila to discuss the new election date. Officials in the Office of the President told the Star that the president was too busy to worry about the election date. Kibaki was in his office at Harambee house for most of yesterday. Last week Kibaki declined to meet the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission members in the presence of Raila. The IEBC was then forced to meet the President and Prime Minister separately.
Kibaki met all the IEBC commissioners led by their chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan last Friday in Harambee House. He insisted twice that he wanted the elections be held in 2013 despite the commission requesting that a December date would be better. "We took him through a detailed plan and even showed him an opinion poll that showed most Kenyans wanted the polls to be held this year. He told us very clearly to stop wasting our time and instead go and do what we are mandated to do because his position will remain the same," said an official who attended the meeting.
The commission then walked across the road and met the Prime Minister in Shell House. They briefed Raila about the president's position and the PM apparently urged the IEBC to delay announcing the date so that he could appeal to Kibaki to change his mind. "We told him that we could not mediate between them. If they agreed in writing at some point, then we will abide by their new date but for now the country needed some date," said an IEBC commissioner.
Yesterday Raila defended his call for a December election arguing that the March 4, 2013 date could create a constitutional crisis and hamper presentation of the national budget. Raila also said that Kenya could place the East African Community budget process in jeopardy by going to polls in March. If there is a second round in the election, as seems probable at this stage, then a new president might not finally be in office until June 2013.
By law, the budget has to be presented in mid-June but that is after MPs have made their input. Parliament will be dissolved on January 14 but the new MPs will resume sitting after the elections. The Raila Odinga campaign secretariat said that the March date could disrupt the school calendar and the farming season. "A March election raises serious timeline issues for the Government’s annual financial estimates. It is important to read the Articles of the Constitution that pertain to elections, together with those on the financial estimates,” said the statement.
“We risk running into a constitutional crisis in trying to impose on a new Government and Parliament the duty of approving and executing a budget they did not take part in preparing. In any event, any unfinished business by the Tenth Parliament will die with its dissolution in January. This has enormous implications.”
In the statement Raila called for cooling of temperatures so that the country can address the implications of a March 2013 election and find a way forward. Yesterday the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution has supported the March 4 date announced by the IEBC.
“CIC is fully persuaded that, in the discharge of its mandate, IEBC acted entirely within the parameters of the Constitution, as stated by the Constitutional Court. In the absence of any of the above events taking place, it behoves all Kenyans, including all other Constitutional organs and office, to respect IEBC and its mandate,” CIC chairman Charles Nyachae told a press conference.
Nyachae said that the CIC is concerned with constitutional issues and not with “political interests and preferences surrounding the election date debate". Meanwhile the Court of Appeal on Thursday will hear an appeal by women rights groups seeking to quash the decision by Justices Isaac Lenaola, Mumbi Ngugi and David Majanja that elections should be within 60 days of January 14, or earlier if the coalition is dissolved.

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