Kenyan Opposition Warns Of More Protests

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s leading opposition party on Wednesday accused the government of stonewalling in negotiations to resolve the country’s festering political crisis and threatened to resume protests if a power sharing agreement was not reached within a week.

At the same time, Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, seemed to send out mixed signals whether he would approve the creation of a prime minister post for the opposition, which is one of its chief demands.

All in all, the political situation in Kenya remains tense and difficult to predict, with mediators from both sides engaged in heated talks about how to lift the country out of a post-election crisis that has claimed more than 1,000 lives and destabilized the country. The trouble erupted in December after Kenya’s election commission declared Mr. Kibaki, the incumbent, the winner of a presidential election over Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader, despite widespread evidence of vote rigging.

On Wednesday, leaders from the Orange Democratic Movement, Mr. Odinga’s party, said that unless the government supported a constitutional amendment to create a new position of prime minister, giving them a meaningful role in government, they would take to the streets.

“If we do not see any progress in one week,” said Najib Balala, an opposition leader, “we are resolved for mass action.”

Mass action has been the opposition’s leverage of choice, but despite opposition leaders’ repeated insistence that protests will be peaceful, many have turned into riots, with property destroyed and dozens of people killed.

Mr. Kibaki has so far rejected the prime minister idea. He has indicated that he is willing to bring opposition leaders into his cabinet, but he has balked at the suggestion of making Mr. Odinga the prime minister and sharing executive power with him. Kenya’s constitution, which many Kenyans feel needs to be revised anyway because it vests too much power in the hands of the president, does not authorize a prime minister position, and Mr. Kibaki has said that any political settlement must obey the constitution.

“It would be a dangerous precedent for the country if decisions were made that were outside the constitution,” said a statement issued by the presidential press service on Wednesday.

But Mr. Kibaki also said, “It is possible to have a comprehensive constitutional review within a year,” and that he was receptive to making changes that Kenyans want.

Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general who has been in Kenya for the past four weeks trying to broker a truce, tried to reassure Kenyans that a solution was still in sight.

“Despite discouraging reports prompted by statements from one side or the other,” read an e-mail message issued by Mr. Annan’s team on Wednesday evening, “the talks are going well and we are on track.”

Kennedy Abwao contributed reporting

Tag Cloud

External Information

Additional Information

Where Am I?