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KENYA: KIBAKI RECEIVES “PRODIGAL SONS†TO CABINET AFTER BOYCOTT December 14, 2005
Apunyu Bonny
(SomaliNet) After a decisive move to reject ministerial posts, two key allies of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Wednesday 14th agreed to return to his cabinet. Reports Reuters.
This comes exactly a week after their decline to take up ministerial posts. Kenya held a referendum on November 21st this year in which Kenyan President lost to the opposition.
Kibaki's defeat in the referendum, and the subsequent reshuffle of his cabinet to include mainly old friends and allies, triggered a rash of rejections of ministerial posts and encouraged opposition parties to call for a snap election.
More than half of Kibaki's ministers and assistant ministers appointed last Wednesday rejected the cabinet offers, causing concerns that members of parliament could push for a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Kenya’s president Kibaki retaliated by broadening his already huge cabinet of 30 ministers late on Tuesday to win back leaders of key parties that had pulled out of his ruling National Rainbow Coalition, saying they had not been consulted on new cabinet appointments.
Kibaki created three new ministries to accommodate new ministers from the National Party of Kenya (NPK) and FORD Kenya, both key partners that brought Kibaki to power in 2002.
NPK and FORD Kenya leaders, Charity Ngilu and Musikari Kombo agreed to be sworn in as health and local government ministers respectively on Wednesday, their aides said, after Kibaki agreed to elevate four other legislators from their parties previously appointed as junior ministers to full cabinet ministers.