Kibaki cabinet 'a joke'
08/01/2008 21:37  - (SA)  

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Nairobi - Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday announced a partial cabinet line-up which was promptly dismissed by his rival Raila Odinga's movement as a gimmick.

"I am pleased to announce part of my cabinet," Kibaki said in a brief televised address, after violence over the disputed poll claimed more than 600 lives and brought Washington's top Africa envoy and other top foreign figures to Kenya, urging a peaceful solution.

"In naming the cabinet, I have considered the importance of keeping the country united, peaceful and prosperous and a strong broad-based leadership. I am accordingly naming the first half of my cabinet as follows," he added.

Kibaki has said he was ready to form a government of national unity with Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), but the opposition charged that the cabinet announcement was evidence of the president's unwillingness to negotiate seriously.

"The whole thing is a gimmick, the cabinet is a joke. We do not recognise the president and therefore we won't recognise his cabinet," secretary general Anyang Nyongo of Odinga's ODM told AFP.

Odinga claims Kibaki rigged his way to re-election in the December 27 polls and has refused to recognise him as president, asking to step down and calling for a re-run within three months.

The partial line-up Kibaki announced included two members of the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya led by presidential contender Kalonzo Musyoka, who was appointed as vice president.

ODM-K member Samuel Pogisio was named as information minister.

Uhuru Kenyatta, the head of the former opposition Kenya African National Union (KANU) that supported Kibaki's re-election campaign, was named local government minister.

Key allies Martha Karua retained her justice and constitutional affairs portfolio while John Michuki was moved from national security to roads and public transport.

Moses Wetangula, from Kibaki's Party of National Unity, was appointed foreign minister while Amos Kimunya kept his finance portfolio.

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