President brings opposition leaders into government

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has brought in several opposition politicians into his administration by way of a reshuffle, saying he wanted to form a government of national unity that would be more focused on improving the lives of the people. But his move has been widely seen as an attempt to deal with the factional infighting that has dogged his National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government since it came to power following general elections held in December 2002. "We should put aside endless politics and focus our energies on baking a bigger national cake, so that more of our people can be in gainful employment," Kibaki said when he announced the new cabinet in a television address on Wednesday evening. "A united government can never be woven simply along party lines. A strong social fabric can never be tailored along narrow ethnic interests," said Kibaki. "The leadership of Kenya must reflect the entire people of Kenya," he added. Narc, an alliance of more than a dozen parties, has been dogged by factional wrangles over a pre-election deal on equitable sharing of government positions. One of the key partners in the coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has incessantly grumbled that it had received a raw deal from the other group, mainly Kibaki's National Alliance Party of Kenya. The LDP had also been angered by the government's apparent reluctance to adopt a draft constitution that would see the president ceding some of his powers to the holder of a proposed post of prime minister, a position which some LDP politicians said had been reserved for it in a pre-election memorandum of understanding. Kibaki apparently opted to seek support outside government rather than merely try to pacify the LDP. He appointed Simeon Nyachae, the leader of the opposition Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-People (Ford-People), as energy minister, and brought in Njenga Karume of the former ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), to be his special programmes minister. Another KANU politician, Abdi Mohamed, was made minister for regional development. Several other opposition politicians were appointed junior ministers. The most significant change was the transfer of Kalonzo Musyoka, a key LDP figure, from the foreign ministry to the lower profile environment and natural resources portfolio. Musyoka was playing a key role in peace talks aimed at ending 21 years of civil war in southern Sudan, and has also been involved in the Somali national reconciliation conference being held in Nairobi. KANU's interim chairman, Uhuru Kenyatta, was quoted in the local media as describing Kibaki's cooption of some the party's MPs into government as "poaching", saying the president had appointed individual members of the party, and KANU could not therefore be seen to support the government.