WHO IS FOOLING WHO IN KENYA'S MEDIATION TALKS

Who is fooling Who between kibaki and Raila?

Mwai Kibaki (center) shakes hands with Raila Odinga as former UN secretary general Kofi Annan looks on.

As Mr. Annan stood on the white stone steps with the two men, who shook hands stiffly, put on their best smiles and spoke to the cameras about peace. kibaki appealed for all Kenyans to "shun violence." Raila on his part also said he would "spare no effort" to find a resolution. But as It turned out, this was all but theatrics . Who is fooling who is difficult to tell...but kenyan people need concrete solution..fast. Raila pointedly referred to his rival (kibaki) as "Mr. Kibaki," rather than using His Excellency or another presidential honorific. But Kibaki referred to himself as "the duly elected president." This was in itself telling. ODM leaders accused Kibaki of reading a speech written by hard-line advisers determined to make sure no compromise takes place."What Mr. Kibaki did has really undermined the negotiations," said Salim Lone, secretary for ODM's negotiating team.

Gituku countered that the opposition leaders' response "makes total nonsense of their call for peace. It is juvenile for them to renege on something they just committed themselves to in front of the whole world."Said he. I cannot believe these clowns for a second because they will achieve nothing if they still hold their prior positions going to the table. The parties involved should put all options on the table and honestly find a fair outcome to save the country. Kibaki cannot expect to call himself duly elected while the election itself is still in doubt. They should go to the table with open mind and ready to find a compromise...a fair solution. Where are his proposal that he is going to the table with? On ODM side, Ruto said they had three options...
“We have presented three scenarios actually. One is that Mwai Kibaki lost the election and every indication supports that particular position. And therefore, if Mwai Kibaki was a reasonable person, he should have packed his bags and gone home and Raila Odinga should have been sworn in as president. Position number two, if Mwai Kibaki is in doubt that he did not lose the election we have invited him for a re-run. And now that he has Kalonzo Musyoka on his side who was candidate number three, he shouldn’t have a problem winning, if at all he won the last election. Lastly, we have told him we are prepared to sit on equal terms and negotiate how we are going to look at the options available to us. And see who would run the government because we believe in ODM we have the numbers in parliament to run government,” Ruto pointed out.