Kenyan Leaders Debate About Maximum Number of Ministers In Cabinet

As Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader and soon to be Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga have agreed to a power sharing deal, they are in conflict over the administrative cabinet.

As both President Mwai Kibabki and soon to be Prime Minister Raila Odinga have agreed to a power sharing deal, they are still in conflict over the administrative cabinet. The deal was brokered with the assistance of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and current US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Before Annan visited Kenya, Ghanaian President John Kufuor visited on behalf of the African Union (AU). However, the talks had broken down. Still, both sides have not come to a final agreement. But, Odinga said that the talking on the coalition has not been killed. This agreement to share power came weeks after the bloody violence that ravaged Kenya after the December 27 elections. Over 1,000 people were killed. Over a quarter of a million people were displaced. The UN had called it the worst humanitarian disaster in Kenya. In an unrelated note, on the same day of the elections, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan. She was the then leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). As a result, parliamentary elections were postponed until February. Like Kenya, Pakistan’s parliament had formed up a coalition. Odinga explains that it will take awhile to come up with a final agreement. He noted that it took Germany one full month to get an agreement finalized. The main conflict is the maximum number in the cabinet. Kibaki’s party wants a maximum of 44 while Odinga’s party wants a maximum of 34.