Odinga new Kenyan PM
2008-04-13 16:40
Nairobi - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Sunday announced a coalition government, naming opposition leader Raila Odinga as Prime Minister to end deadlock after polls that sparked nationwide bloodshed.
"So, my challenge to the new Cabinet members and the entire national leadership at all levels is: let us put politics aside and get to work," Kibaki said in a live televised speech announcing the Cabinet.
"Let us build a new Kenya where justice is our shield and defender, and where peace, liberty and plenty will be found throughout our country," he added.
Uhuru Kenyatta of the ruling Party of National Unity (PNU) and Musalia Mudavadi of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) were named deputy prime ministers as well as ministers for trade and local government respectively.
The new Cabinet ended weeks of waiting after the contentious December 27 elections, and effectively replaced one that Kibaki hastily assembled after he was controversially re-elected.
Western powers had been piling pressure on Kibaki and Odinga to implement an accord to curb the tribal fighting, revenge killings and police crackdowns that claimed at least 1 500 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Violence had erupted after Odinga accused Kibaki of stealing his election victory.