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17 April, 2008
NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya on Thursday swore in a power-sharing government to end a bloody post-election crisis which claimed at least 1,500 lives, with new Prime Minister Raila Odinga vowing to bring power to the people.
Odinga, 63, was sworn in as prime minister before his rival, President Mwai Kibaki, 76, as well as former UN chief Kofi Annan, who brokered a power-sharing accord to end months of violence after contested December 27 polls.
Also present were Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi and representatives from neighbouring states.
"We have been to hell and back. We must preserve the sanctity of our nation and remain united but our unity cannot be based on words and goodwill alone," but actions, Odinga said.
"Kenya will have no longer a ruling class. The rulers are the people. Power will forever with the people of Kenya. Fellow Kenyans, I give you myself in your service," added Odinga.
A handful of people from Kibaki's dominant Kikuyu and Moi's Kalenjin tribes have controlled the country's economy since independence from Britain in 1963, leaving the majority living in dire poverty.
"It's one government of two equal partners. I'm determined to provide decisive leadership and to help build democratic institutions," added Odinga, who had launched three failed attempts to become president.
Odinga vowed to broaden reforms to ensure equal distribution of land, jobs and national wealth among the country's 40-plus tribes.
Kibaki said he would monitor the performance of ministers in the country, where growth projections for this year were slashed from seven percent to between 4.5 and six percent.
"I want to emphasise that you will be expected to show results and excel in your portfolios. Kenyans will be monitoring your performance and will be judging you by the quality and timeliness of services."
The new government is made up of 93 ministers and assistant ministers, sparking complaints that it is too big for a nation where 60 percent of the people earn less than a dollar a day.
Annan meanwhile urged Kenyans to support the government, saying the deeply divided country had a long way to go after the crisis that ruined its reputation as a beacon of stability in a region beset by conflict.
"We have an opportunity to put Kenya back on track and build a stronger Kenya," he said.
"It is essential that you all support the leaders and the governement ... You are on an important journey. Stay the course, work with them, support them and don't believe that now you've got a governement, all is resolved and we can relax."
"Peace is precious, let's not lose it once again," he added.
Annan brokered a 50-50 power-sharing deal between Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga on February 28, paving the way for the cabinet.
Odinga's claim that Kibaki rigged the December 27 presidential ballot touched off tribal fighting, revenge killings and police crackdowns that choked the country's mainstay tourism and agricultural sectors.
Kenyan civil society groups have lamented that that several ministries in the new cabinet overlap, chiefly citing the ministry of public health and sanitation with that of medical services.
Others include lifestock, fisheries and agriculture which had been under the same docket, but are now separate. Roads was separated from public works, and industrialisation created from trade. Environment and mineral resources was separated from forestry and wildlife.
Thursday's swearing-in ceremony was overshadowed by the killing of at least 19 people mainly in the capital, Rift Valley and Central provinces in an ongoing police crackdown on the politically-linked Mungiki sect since Monday.
The sect, which has become a violent criminal network, accuses the police of beheading its jailed leader's wife and driver last week, a claim the police deny. Some 230 suspected Mungiki sect members have been arrested since Monday.
Meanwhile dozens of lawmakers who were not named in the cabinet are pushing for a new opposition alliance in parliament, insisting that the government cannot deliver without checks from the opposition.