Kenya President Calls for Face-to-face Meeting with Opposition

Kenya government spokesman Alfred Mutua on Thursday said that President Mwai Kibaki is ready to hold face-to-face talks with Prime Minister designate Raila Odinga to solve the current impasse in naming a coalition government after talks between the two principals collapsed on Monday.

Addressing journalists in Nairobi, Mutua however said that the government side is reading mischief in Odinga’s demands that the cabinet should be dissolved first before Odinga returns to the negotiation table with Kibaki.

Mutua added that Kibaki is committed to naming a cabinet that will serve Kenyans irrespective of their political beliefs.

Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement withdrew from the negotiations on Tuesday after accusing Kibaki of being reluctant to honor the power sharing agreement brokered by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

On Tuesday, Odinga set two major preconditions that Kibaki must meet before he can return to the negotiation table. Odinga demanded that Kibaki must dissolve the current 17-member cabinet and let him nominate ministers to the Local Government, Foreign Affairs, Transport, Energy and Cabinet ministries.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher