The Jubilee and Cord leaders on Sunday appeared headed for another round of bitter exchanges in spite of calls for dialogue and the conciliatory tone they had adopted during the weekend burial of ODM leader Raila Odinga’s son, Fidel. Mr Odinga, speaking on Saturday at the family’s cemetery Kang’o ka Jaramogi in Bondo, embraced the call for talks. Cord leaders want the government to form a team that will engage them in a structured dialogue. They have also rejected informal consultations. On Sunday, however, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale said Jubilee was not ready to sit down with opposition leaders who have been calling for dialogue while hitting out at President Uhuru Kenyatta. “You cannot insult the President in funerals and at the same time ask for dialogue. These calls for dialogue are only aimed at forming a coalition government,” he told the Daily Nation in a telephone interview. WANT GOVERNMENT POSITIONS According to him, Cord was seeking to have its leaders given positions in government. His view was echoed by Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki who said: “Nobody in Kenya is disputing the fact that there are challenges, just like (in) any other country. A national conversation bringing together everyone including the Opposition, civil society, county leaders is the best way to approach the challenges. But that should be done without threats, conditions and contempt for the office of the President.” Kericho Senator Charles Keter accused Cord of being interested only in joining the government rather than in solving the challenges facing the country. He said that Parliament could handle the talks without involving the President and his deputy. “I thought they have been talking. If there are any issues, there are institutions such as Parliament. What is the emergency? What they want is a grand national coalition because some of them are not used to being in the Opposition,” he said. Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen asked Cord to come up with a clear agenda and also put its house in order before asking the government for talks. “Cord seems not to have any agenda. Dialogue is not the agenda; it is a medium to thrash out the agenda. Dialogue is not a one-day issue. It is a daily process. They have already defiled the institution that would have led in the dialogue by causing violence in Parliament,” he said. PLAY DOWN ULTIMATUMS At the funeral in Bondo on Saturday, Mr Odinga had welcomed the initiative for talks as a tribute to Fidel, and sought to play down ultimatums and criticism directed at President Uhuru Kenyatta by political leaders who had spoken before him. Mr Odinga said the issues in the country that require improvement need to be looked into to have a government structure that is free of confrontation. “We have no conditions for these talks, we expect no conditions coming from the other side as well,” he said and thanked the government, the public and friends of the family for the support accorded to them. The government had provided military aircraft to carry Fidel’s body on its last journey while friends and well-wishers raised money to set up a fund to support Fidel’s family. During the funeral, Mr Odinga asked Kenyans to move away from building a society where ethnicity, race, religious differences and corruption were the order of the day. UHURU VISIT Mr Odinga had first broached the idea of a rapprochement when President Kenyatta visited his home soon after Fidel’s death. He noted that his son had always been a bridge to different groups, and that in death he had managed to bring together many people of different political persuasions. The Wiper Democratic Party Leader, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, renewed the call for dialogue as a tribute to Fidel during the funeral service at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi on Thursday that was also attended by President Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto. Addressing mourners at the church, President Kenyatta readily accepted the call for dialogue and said he was never opposed to talks. But at the funeral on Saturday, some of the Cord leaders who took up the theme for talks were harsh in their criticism of the President and some even set conditions before dialogue can take place. Senate Minority leader and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula said the government must first drop the contentious security law which was passed amid acrimony in Parliament in December. “If he (the President) is willing to dialogue then he should demonstrate that by asking the Attorney-General to withdraw the appeal against the draconian security laws,” he said. Mr Musyoka demanded that the government first give in to pay demands by teachers who are on strike demanding higher salaries. The strike, which started when schools opened, enters its second week today.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:01:46 +0000
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