Vice President Kalonzo musyoka has a word with Prime Minister Raila Odinga at a past function. PHOTO/ FILE
In Summary
- By being denied the House Leader post, the Vice-President’s political image was injured and the President’s authority weakened, and as PNU argues, ODM now occupies critical positions of power in Parliament.
The media’s overall opinion of Speaker Kenneth Marende’s Tuesday ruling on the Leader of Government Business was that it left ODM and PNU in a draw.
Mr Kibaki had written to the Speaker about his decision to appoint the VP the House Leader, a position he actually reinforced with another letter after the Speaker publicly declared that he would seek meetings with the two principals to help break the stalemate.
Hesitate to defy
Up to then, the PNU side appeared confident that Mr Marende would hesitate to defy what was in essence a legally-clothed presidential edict, which no previous Speaker had ever done. That was the reason President Kibaki’s minders felt confident to advise him against arranging an appointment with the Speaker.
There is some thinking in lower PNU circles that perhaps the tactics should have been different. An adviser to the VP had suggested that the meeting requested by the Speaker would have been helpful, even as they expected the President would use it to restate the position he had taken.
Some backbenchers did not fail to notice that as Mr Marende read his lengthy ruling he included a paragraph admonishing the Head of State to accord “respect” to the Speaker’s office.
Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni, Mr Mohammed Affey of ODM-Kenya and Limuru’s Peter Mwathi argue that by the Speaker ruling that he will chair the committee on an interim basis, he had handed control of Parliament to Mr Odinga’s ODM.
Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim will chair the committee in Mr Marende’s absence while ODM chief whip Jakowo Midiwo and his PNU counterpart George Thuo will be the first and deputy leaders, respectively.
All from ODM
Given that Mr Marende, Mr Farah and Mr Midiwo are all from ODM, it is easier to argue that the party occupies critical positions of influence in Parliament to push its agenda.
This is seen as a well-calculated onslaught by ODM to weaken their coalition partners, President Kibaki’s PNU.
Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri reckons that this is part a long-term plan aimed at disabling PNU and exercising power using Parliament as platform. “They want to take over executive power. Mr Odinga is acting as if he is the President. These days he even parks at the space reserved for President Kibaki in Parliament.”
Besides President Kibaki, the other loser in this battle for power can only be Mr Kalonzo who has been chairing the committee and leading government business in Parliament. By being denied the post, the VP’s stature in Parliament is injured in the face of his rivals in the 2012 presidential contest.
And given the emphasis that the chair must be agreed upon by President Kibaki and Mr Odinga, it is highly unlikely that the two will settle on Mr Musyoka, who has a frosty relationship with the ODM wing of the grand coalition. This could mark a significant decline of his political fortunes.
ODM leaders are particularly furious with any attempts by the VP to appear to be occupying a higher position in the political hierarchy than Mr Odinga.
This put an extra burden on the son of Tseikuru who has been fighting the tag of traitor, an intruder and third party in the grand coalition government even as he positions himself for the 2012 contest.
This week, the womenfolk asked him “to step aside and refuse being used to undermine the good intentions of the National Accord.”
They said that “the introduction of the Vice-President into the marriage of the principals is intended to undermine the marriage, bring duress and the ultimate collapse of the marriage.”
Vulnerable President
Mr Musyoka hurriedly entered a coalition with a vulnerable President Kibaki as ODM claimed that the Head of State had stolen the 2007 General Election.
But there is the argument that his manner of appointment had “cheapened” the institution of the vice-presidency. His presence in the coalition has been a source of discomfort to ODM, which feels that he betrayed their dream of taking over the presidency.
In fact, some of ODM-Kenya MPs are inclined to the view that the ruling is part of a plot by ODM “to cut Mr Musyoka to size and put him in his political place.”
This would explain his fury over the new arrangement. Mr Musyoka’s threat – which he has since reconsidered – to seek court interpretation over what he called “an assault on the presidency” betrayed his anger.
But Kenyatta University lecturer Dr Tom Namwamba says any attempt to contest the Speaker’s ruling in court would be “naïve”. He added, “That is tantamount to challenging the power of the Speaker as the head of Parliament.”
But Mr Kioni thinks that by rejecting the President’s nominee, Mr Marende had usurped the powers of the Executive.
Dr Namwamba faults the logic. He argues that by the National Accord empowering Mr Odinga to share power, it is erroneous for “anybody to argue that the PM does not exercise executive power.”
A politician familiar with the Vice-President’s thinking said the VP is likely to make a public statement asking the President to nominate any other leader to chair the committee “if the ODM tide becomes too strong”.
Mr Kalonzo’s declaration will likely be made in the fashion of his last and clearly populist pronouncement that he will accept a pay cut “to resolve the dispute over the Prime Minister’ salary.”
But from the VP’s corner, there is a palpable feeling of despair and demoralisation. The VP’s people believe that the PM has decided to go full blast against the VP so as to destroy his 2012 chances.
This is not entirely a unanimous view within PNU. Though there is no doubt that the VP was a target, there are other big forces in PNU whose battle standard is that the real target is President Kibaki.
This is the one time when a Kenyan president has been reduced to the weakest point. Mr Kibaki has effectively lost control of Parliament. He has neither the majority in the House nor in the House Business Committee. And as things stand after Mr Marende’s ruling, both the job of Leader of Government Business and the chairmanship of the HBC are no longer a guarantee for PNU.
Furthermore, ODM’s House majority places it at a vantage point to take control of all House committees. Likewise, its HBC majority (11 to 10) automatically would win it the committee’s chairmanship were the matter to be put to the vote.
As per latest indicators, however, there is a possibility that a compromise will be worked out whereby the VP remains Leader of Government Business while the PM becomes chairman of the HBC.
source.nation.ke
