Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete , the former president of Tanzania, revealed in an interview his role in bringing Raila and Kibaki together in a coalition government that was formed after the hotly contested 2007 elections.
“In 2008 January l took over the chairmanship of AU at a time when Kenya was in turmoil.
“Former president Mkapa, who was already in Kenya as part of the mediation team, called me and complained how the talks had stalled.
“He informed me that even though both parties had agreed on a coalition government, there was a disagreement about responsibilities of the prime minister.
“So Mkapa told me ‘Mr president come and help us because Tanzania has a similar government to the one that is being proposed in Kenya ‘”.
“So l called a minister called Musikari Kombo and told him that l want to come to Kenya to see how you guys are doing there. Please ask President Kibaki whether he agrees with my offer to come.
“Later, Musikari Kombo called back, telling me that Kibaki wanted me in Kenya as soon as possible.
“I left for Nairobi during the day and landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where l was received by President Mwai Kibaki, Vice-president Kalonzo Musyoka and cabinet ministers.
“However, l was shocked that my host Kibaki, who had agreed to my visit, appeared gloomy. Nevertheless, as we left the airport, the minister for Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula, who was with me in the same car, told me, ‘Mr President, before you arrived, Koffi Annan had suspended the talks. That’s why the president and all the officials you saw at the airport appeared gloomy.'”
“Wetangula went on to plead with me ‘please we want you to do two things. One , please talk to Koffi Annan not to leave Kenya because as soon as people see him boarding his plane, Kenya will be on fire. The second thing is please don’t leave until Raila and Kibaki reach an agreement.”
“I told Wetangula, talking to Koffi Annan not to leave Kenya is very simple. But me staying here until a solution is reached is impossible because l also have a country to run.
“When we arrived in town, l held talks with my predecessor Mkapa, who gave me the details of the talks and the reason they had stalled. After that, l held talks with the other mediation team led by Koffi Annan.
According to Kikwete, Koffi Annan told him:
“We have been trying to reach an agreement. The problem is that the two parties reach an agreement in the morning, coming back in the afternoon, they disown the same agreement. There’s a certain female minister who has a very bad attitude, and she is causing us a lot of trouble. Together with her colleagues, they are acting as if they are doing us a favour to be in this country, yet we have spared our time to come to sort out their problems. Because of this, l have decided to suspend the talks. “
According to Kikwete, he then asked Annan, “What should we do now?” and Annan replied,” l’ll wait until the day they’ll be ready to talk. Otherwise, there’s no need to continue. “
Annan also told Kikwete that another main problem was the issue of the responsibilities of the prime minister, adding that since Tanzania has a president and prime minister, maybe he could share the details with the disagreeing parties.
Kikwete continued:
“One thing l realised was that the government side really feared Raila. They thought that if Raila was to be given a prime minister position, he could end up being so powerful than the president.
“That night l met Raila . He gave me his side of the story. He told me: ‘These guys have stolen my victory. But we can’t continue this way because many people are dying and we must help our country to find peace. I am OK with the prime minister position, but it must have clear responsibilities. If it is just a premiership because of a name, then l am not ready. Another thing is that the other side wants the position not to be anchored in the constitution. If the position is not protected by the constitution, then l am not ready for it.'”
Kikwete continued:
“So l finished my talks with Raila, but it was late at night, and therefore, l couldn’t meet President Kibaki to inform him about Raila’s demands. l met him the following day in the morning. Also present were vice president Kalonzo Musyoka and Prof George Saitoti.
“Even though they all agreed that the position of prime minister was necessary to save the country, they insisted that it should just be like any other ministerial position. So l shared with them Tanzania’s experience where the prime minister is responsible for the day to day running of government affairs and is also a “prefect” of all ministers.
“There was a heated debate as they told me,’you don’t know Raila. Even with that little prime minister position, he can cause a big problem in this government. I told them Raila must get something.
“Another discussion was on the constitutional protection of the office of the prime minister. I made it clear that if the office was not protected by the constitution, anyone could challenge it in court as an illegal office, but Kalonzo told me no one could do that. I made it clear to him that there are people who don’t care whether Kenya burns or not.
“So l went back to Koffi Annan and reported to him about my talks with Raila and the Kibaki team. In the end, we agreed that going forward, we should have Raila and Kibaki meet face to face without their lieutenants. Just the two of them.
“As agreed, we organised a meeting, just between Kibaki and Raila. On the constitutionality of the office of the prime minister, we decided to summon Attorney General Amos Wako to share his thoughts with us. But Raila also insisted on the presence of his legal advisor, James Orengo. Kibaki said ‘no problem’, and James Orengo came.
“When Amos Wako came, he went through the draft agreement and told us that there were two issues. One was that there was no problem at all in the creation of the office of the prime minister and his two deputies because the authority of the creation of such offices was in the hands of the president and parliament.
“But the only part that went against the constitution, according to Wako, was that the president could hire the prime minister and his deputies but couldn’t fire them. To overcome this, Wako advised that there had to be constitutional amendments.
“Annan then asked Kibaki what he thought about Wako’s advice, and Kibaki replied,’So be it’. He was forthright and straight to the point. He had no problem at all. To us, this was similar to white smoke in Vatican. After that, we agreed to break up for lunch and to return at 4.00 pm for the signing of the final agreement.
“But just before we broke up for lunch the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura walked in and told President Kibaki that his team made up of Kalonzo Musyoka, George Saitoti and Martha Karua wanted to meet him before the signing of the agreement, but Kibaki dismissed him by telling him ‘ l’ll meet them after signing the agreement.”
“Muthaura then asked , has Attorney General gone through the draft agreement, and Kibaki said ‘yes’.
“Kibaki’s action deserves praise. He had made up his mind that Kenya had to move forward. I am pretty sure that if he had gone back to his team as requested by Muthaura, the whole agreement would have been dismantled to zero. We went for lunch, came back, and went through the agreement for the last time. After everyone was satisfied, we went downstairs, and Raila and Kibaki signed the agreement. “
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