Post by Onyango Oloo on Dec 10, 2005 20:59:08 GMT 3
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Broken promises haunt Kenya's low-key Kibaki
09 Dec 2005 13:01:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
NAIROBI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Once hailed as Kenya's best hope after years of decline,
President Mwai Kibaki saw his stature plunge on Friday when he ignored a chorus of protest and forced through the inauguration of an unpopular new cabinet.
It was the lowest point in a three-year-old presidency critics say has been marked by indecision, corruption, broken promises of political reform and insensitivity to the poor.
"His presidency teeters on the brink of an abyss," wrote columnist Lucy Oriang in the Daily Nation.
Some joke the low-key Kibaki, 74, his lustre dimmed by years of squabbling inside his government, has achieved the impossible and made his unloved predecessor Daniel arap Moi look good.
Kibaki, thankfully, has none of Moi's Big Man style, Kenyans say. But he also lacks Moi's natural authority and cunning.
"He comes through as an intensely private man who is rather uncomfortable in the spotlight," Oriang wrote.
There was consternation when Kibaki recruited mostly cronies to a new cabinet this week, without consulting any major tribal and political groups apart from those in his Kikuyu community.
Nearly a third of those named as ministers and assistants turned down jobs in protest at what they said was Kibaki's recycling of allies and exclusion of cabinet dissidents who beat him in a referendum last month.
His omission of the rebels, who include veterans of the struggle for democracy during Moi's autocratic tenure, looked high-handed and vengeful and in effect torpedoed the coalition that brought him to power in December 2002.
Some saw it as a slap in the face for the majority who rejected the new constitution he proposed in the Nov. 21 plebiscite, a poll widely seen as a barometer of opinion on his performance.
"Kibaki should go back to the drawing board and ask himself what went wrong," said Jackson Mtungi, a 46-year-old father of eight who gets by selling ice cream in Nairobi's streets. "If it continues like this then we will have tribal clashes in Kenya."
CONTRAST WITH MOI
Kibaki was elected on a wave of goodwill with a coalition that united most major political alignments and ended 39 years of rule by Moi's Kenya African National Union (KANU) party.
Kenyans at first relished the contrast with Moi.
Kibaki carries no ceremonial stick, has no retinue of grovelling ministers and does not lecture audiences about the wages of sin, old-style African presidential habits that were anathema to Kenya's modernising population.
Kenyans also appreciated Kibaki's introduction of free primary school education, fostering of free speech in state media, inquiries into aspects of graft during Moi's rule and a long overdue promotion of Kenya's neglected tourism sector.
Three years on, hopes of a fresh start free from the sleaze and mismanagement of the Moi era have faded, largely, Kenyans say, because Kibaki has failed to make good on promises to end graft, reform the economy and create 500,000 jobs annually.
Former colonial power Britain last year accused the new government of stealing public funds faster than Moi's associates did and said it was perpetuating graft instead of fighting it.
Kibaki appears aloof and never gives interviews. At times he expresses condolences to people bereaved by tribal clashes or crime but rarely visits the wounded or the scene of bloodshed.
Part of that may be due to frailty, allies say. A car crash in 2002 left Kibaki with a broken arm and a neck injury that forced him to take a back seat in campaigning in 2002.
Nothing has done more damage to Kibaki than his failure to fulfil pledges to trim his own huge powers and set up a prime minister's post to take a substantial slice of his duties.
Kibaki supported the post in opposition but reneged on the deal when in power. The man to whom he promised the premier's job, the charismatic Raila Odinga, is expected to do his utmost to make sure Kibaki loses elections due in 2007.
Kibaki's career has spanned four decades and began in KANU's ranks before the advent of multi-partyism in 1991.
Opponents say Kibaki is a late convert to democracy. He once likened campaigners seeking to end the one-party system in the 1980s to daydreamers trying to fell a tree with a razor blade.
Educated at Uganda's Makerere University and the London School of Economics, Kibaki has a penchant for witticisms in Swahili, English and Kikuyu, the language of his tribe.
Kibaki is married with four children, and has interests in hotels, insurance and farming. He is thought to be one of Kenya's richest politicians and can regularly be found playing golf or drinking at one of Nairobi's most exclusive clubs.
Broken promises haunt Kenya's low-key Kibaki
09 Dec 2005 13:01:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
NAIROBI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Once hailed as Kenya's best hope after years of decline,
President Mwai Kibaki saw his stature plunge on Friday when he ignored a chorus of protest and forced through the inauguration of an unpopular new cabinet.
It was the lowest point in a three-year-old presidency critics say has been marked by indecision, corruption, broken promises of political reform and insensitivity to the poor.
"His presidency teeters on the brink of an abyss," wrote columnist Lucy Oriang in the Daily Nation.
Some joke the low-key Kibaki, 74, his lustre dimmed by years of squabbling inside his government, has achieved the impossible and made his unloved predecessor Daniel arap Moi look good.
Kibaki, thankfully, has none of Moi's Big Man style, Kenyans say. But he also lacks Moi's natural authority and cunning.
"He comes through as an intensely private man who is rather uncomfortable in the spotlight," Oriang wrote.
There was consternation when Kibaki recruited mostly cronies to a new cabinet this week, without consulting any major tribal and political groups apart from those in his Kikuyu community.
Nearly a third of those named as ministers and assistants turned down jobs in protest at what they said was Kibaki's recycling of allies and exclusion of cabinet dissidents who beat him in a referendum last month.
His omission of the rebels, who include veterans of the struggle for democracy during Moi's autocratic tenure, looked high-handed and vengeful and in effect torpedoed the coalition that brought him to power in December 2002.
Some saw it as a slap in the face for the majority who rejected the new constitution he proposed in the Nov. 21 plebiscite, a poll widely seen as a barometer of opinion on his performance.
"Kibaki should go back to the drawing board and ask himself what went wrong," said Jackson Mtungi, a 46-year-old father of eight who gets by selling ice cream in Nairobi's streets. "If it continues like this then we will have tribal clashes in Kenya."
CONTRAST WITH MOI
Kibaki was elected on a wave of goodwill with a coalition that united most major political alignments and ended 39 years of rule by Moi's Kenya African National Union (KANU) party.
Kenyans at first relished the contrast with Moi.
Kibaki carries no ceremonial stick, has no retinue of grovelling ministers and does not lecture audiences about the wages of sin, old-style African presidential habits that were anathema to Kenya's modernising population.
Kenyans also appreciated Kibaki's introduction of free primary school education, fostering of free speech in state media, inquiries into aspects of graft during Moi's rule and a long overdue promotion of Kenya's neglected tourism sector.
Three years on, hopes of a fresh start free from the sleaze and mismanagement of the Moi era have faded, largely, Kenyans say, because Kibaki has failed to make good on promises to end graft, reform the economy and create 500,000 jobs annually.
Former colonial power Britain last year accused the new government of stealing public funds faster than Moi's associates did and said it was perpetuating graft instead of fighting it.
Kibaki appears aloof and never gives interviews. At times he expresses condolences to people bereaved by tribal clashes or crime but rarely visits the wounded or the scene of bloodshed.
Part of that may be due to frailty, allies say. A car crash in 2002 left Kibaki with a broken arm and a neck injury that forced him to take a back seat in campaigning in 2002.
Nothing has done more damage to Kibaki than his failure to fulfil pledges to trim his own huge powers and set up a prime minister's post to take a substantial slice of his duties.
Kibaki supported the post in opposition but reneged on the deal when in power. The man to whom he promised the premier's job, the charismatic Raila Odinga, is expected to do his utmost to make sure Kibaki loses elections due in 2007.
Kibaki's career has spanned four decades and began in KANU's ranks before the advent of multi-partyism in 1991.
Opponents say Kibaki is a late convert to democracy. He once likened campaigners seeking to end the one-party system in the 1980s to daydreamers trying to fell a tree with a razor blade.
Educated at Uganda's Makerere University and the London School of Economics, Kibaki has a penchant for witticisms in Swahili, English and Kikuyu, the language of his tribe.
Kibaki is married with four children, and has interests in hotels, insurance and farming. He is thought to be one of Kenya's richest politicians and can regularly be found playing golf or drinking at one of Nairobi's most exclusive clubs.
