Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Monday urged the East African nation to shun heated political debates and focus on development amid an outcry over his new Cabinet that has sparked a revolt among ministers and deputies.
In an address marking the 42nd anniversary of Kenya’s independence from Britain, Kibaki said disputes over the composition of the Cabinet he named last week after an embarrassing referendum defeat cannot benefit the country.
”We should not engage ourselves in endless debates at the expense of development,” he told a crowd of thousands that turned up at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium to celebrate the day in 1961 when Kenya became a republic.
”Let us direct our energies to productive activities that impact positively on the well-being of each and every one of us,” Kibaki said in an apparent bid to rally the divided nation and shore up shaken confidence in his leadership.
”Let us not waste our energies on unproductive politics,” he said. ”We need to learn to conclude political issues and move on.”
After suffering an embarrassing defeat when nearly 60% of voters rejected a new Constitution he backed in a November 21 referendum, Kibaki sacked his entire Cabinet in an unprecedented move for a Kenyan leader.
The former Cabinet had been sharply split over the proposed charter as it retained near-absolute presidential powers and many observers expected Kibaki to name a unity government to replace it.
But last week, Kibaki rebuffed those calls, sacked the dissidents and appointed a Cabinet packed with loyalists in a move widely decried that has seen nearly 20 nominees refusing to take up their posts.
Seemingly undeterred by the revolt, Kibaki swore in his new Cabinet on Friday and on Monday said the constitutional debate is a distraction.
”As we reflect on the process and implications of the outcome of the referendum, we should continue to focus on nation building for improvement of the welfare of all our people,” he said.
”The Constitution is about building the nation and should never be used as an instrument for dividing the country,” Kibaki said. ”Therefore, we should keep away from politics of deceit and propaganda, which would complicate this process.” — Sapa-AFP