Disputes Kenya Delays Forming Cabinet

By TOM MALITI Posted 06 April 2008 @ 04:33 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Arguments between Kenya's rival parties delayed the creation Sunday of a new power-sharing Cabinet that is key to a deal reached after weeks of postelection violence.

The agreement calls for a government with an equal number of positions for each party. About 300,000 people were driven from their homes and more than 1,000 were killed following disputed elections in December.

A statement signed by both President Mwai Kibaki and his prime minister Raila Odinga, leader of the opposition, said, "We have made substantial progress but we have decided to adjourn the consultations until tomorrow afternoon."

Opposition spokesman Salim Lone said the government had reverted to a list Odinga had previously rejected because it gave the ruling party key ministries including finance, defense, internal security and foreign affairs.

The government said satisfying both sides completely would be impossible.

"In situations where there is sharing, neither party can be satisfied 100 percent, because of the spirit of give and take," the government said in a statement on its Web site. "The consultations for the formation of Cabinet have gone on for over a month and have to end at one point."

Civil society groups have criticized the proposed size of the Cabinet the 40 posts will make it the largest ever. They say that instead of spending the money on large civil servant salaries, notoriously corrupt Kenya should spend the money on rebuilding the country.