Impatient ODM releases ministerial structure ahead of the governmentx

Published by Korir, api, africanpress@getmail.no source.nation.ke

ODM was not able to wait until Sunday, no they are very impatient! They waited until today Friday evening and could not manage any longer, so they came out with the list. It now seems clear what ministries will go to who in the struggle for power in Kenya. There is hope that Kenya will enjoy stability after all things are brought to order and both parties satisfied.

The leaders seem to have put the interest of the Kenyan people at heart, a deflection from the personal pride we have been witnessing to date.

The interesting thing that remains now is who of the party supporters will be rewarded with ministerial positions and who will be left out in the cold.

Now that assistant ministers will total 50 plus the 40 ministers the number is 90. There is the president, vice president, Prime minister, and two deputies as well. The number is reallly large enough to accommodate all the comrades. In parliament, everybody will be on the government seats ……….. and few sitting on the opposition benches. Impressive….? API

Story by ANTHONY KARIUKI
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has released its own version of shared ministries.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga shake hands after agreeing on Cabinet size. ODM released a list of shared ministries on Friday evening. Photo/PPS

With the Cabinet set to be named on Sunday by President Kibaki, the party has made available to the media a breakdown of the 40 ministries to be shared with the Government coalition.

In a statement the party’s Director of Communications Salim Lone says this is necessary especially in light of differing lists carried by the media.

“Media…..carried differing lists of these ministries and their allocation to the parties, obtained informally from unofficial sources, but none of the lists was in fact accurate. I am therefore attaching the list of ministries and the party to which each was assigned.”

The ministries are lumped in three categories: Coordination, Infrastructure and Services and reflect portfolio balance, according to ODM.

With each side set to get 20 ministries, Mr Lone says that ODM has suggested four new ministries.

“In view of the fact that four new ministries needed to be created above the 36 that had been agreed upon by PNU and ODM earlier, ODM suggested that these be the ministries of Provincial Administration, Cabinet Affairs, Housing and Fisheries.”

New ministries have also been carved out of existing ones: Trade and Industry has been split into two, so has Livestock Development and Fisheries.

According to the ODM list, Roads and Public Works will be two distinct ministries

Under coordination, ODM takes Local Government, Planning and National Development, Public Service, Foreign Affairs. The Party of National Unity (PNU) gets East African cooperation, Finance, Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Nairobi Metropolitan Development.

ODM will get Transport, Energy, Roads, Water and Irrigation, Tourism and Wildlife, Agriculture, Development of Northern Kenya and Semi Arid lands, Fisheries and Immigration and Registration of Persons under infrastructure while PNU takes Public Works, Information and Communications, Lands and Settlement, Trade, Livestock Development, Defence, Home Affairs, Internal Security and Provincial Administration.

In the Services category, ODM gets Health, Housing, Youth and Sports, Special Programmes and Labour and Human Resource Development. PNU’s share includes: Regional Development Authorities, Gender and Social Services, Basic Education, Higher Education, Science and Technology, Cooperative Development and Marketing and National Heritage and Culture.

Mr Lone also revealed that the two principals- President Kibaki and Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga agreed that “assistant ministers be limited to 50 with the assistant minister in each ministry coming from a party other than the minister’s.”

He said that the location and organisational strict of the office of prime minister  and other formalities were yet to be concluded.

“A number of additional steps still needed to be taken to complete all the formalities for Sunday’s planned announcement of the cabinet. 

“These formalities, as agreed, include the organisational structure and physical location of the Office of the Prime Minister, the finalisation of the functions and responsibilities of each ministry, the appointment of Permanent Secretaries and redefining the role of the Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet.”

To this end a planned meeting between the Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura and ODM’s representative Mohammed Isahakia to iron out these issues had not taken off at the time of going to press.

The meeting was also expected to put in place arrangements for Sunday’s  announcement of the cabinet.

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African Press International – api