Kenya rivals may finalise cabinet
2008-04-07 12:19
Nairobi - Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki cancelled a trip to India on Monday to try to finalise a deal on a power-sharing cabinet with his main rival after they failed to reach agreement at the weekend.
The joint cabinet was the key part of an accord brokered in February to end the east African nation's worst political crisis - a post-election spasm of riots and ethnic attacks that killed at least 1 200 people and displaced 300 000 more.
Kibaki had been due to join other African leaders at a two-day Africa-India summit starting in New Delhi on Tuesday, but Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula's office said he would represent Kenya "due to urgent and unavoidable State matters".
The new cabinet line-up was initially due to be announced on Sunday, but Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga failed to agree on dividing up ministries. They said they still expected a deal on Monday after making "substantial progress" in talks.
'We appeal to all Kenyans to be patient'
The violence that followed Kibaki's contested victory at a December 27 election eroded Kenya's image as a stable, prosperous country and hurt its economy, currency and stock market.
"We appeal to all Kenyans to be patient," Kibaki and Odinga said in a joint statement after a meeting on Sunday. Talks were due to resume later on Monday.
Both sides had been under intense local and international pressure to break a month-long deadlock over the cabinet. On Thursday they said they had agreed on how to share 40 ministerial jobs, but bickering broke out immediately.
Sources on both sides said most of the disagreement involved just a few ministerial posts. Each side would get 20. One post not in dispute was finance, which meant current Finance Minister Amos Kimunya was likely to keep his job.
The expectation of peace had seen markets rally. The local shilling currency had rebounded to levels not seen since the disputed December 27 vote.
In early trading on Monday it was valued at 61.85/62.05 to the dollar, little changed from Friday's levels. Traders said the current cabinet stalemate was having little impact.
"I think the market has decided to put the politicians aside. We are looking at other fundamentals, other than what the politicians are saying," said Commercial Bank of Africa treasury manager Rose Nkonge.