Nairobi (Earth Times) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki reinstated Sunday evening two ministers suspended over fraud investigations by his prime minister hours earlier. The president said that he had not been consulted and Prime Minister Raila Odinga did not have the authority to order the suspensions. Therefore "constitutionally, the two ministers remain in office," the president said.
Odinga had declared Sunday afternoon that Agriculture Minister William Ruto and Education Minister Sam Ongeri were suspended in connection with frauds worth millions.
The president's overruling of his prime minister's decision reveals more cracks in Kenya's coalition government.
"This position should not be interpreted in any way as undermining the ongoing war against corruption," Kibaki said in a statement. "The war against corruption will be successfully fought when we do so in accordance with the constitution and the due process of law."
Odinga's move was a bold one, as ministers are rarely fingered in the East African nation's frequent corruption scandals.
A Price water house Coopers audit recently revealed that 26 million dollars of government money were diverted in a maize scam.
Government auditors also said 1 million dollars were missing from a scheme to provide free primary school education. Britain and the United States have suspended aid to the program over the scandal.
Most Kenyans believe their politicians are irremediably corrupt and more concerned with politicking than tackling the nation's problems. The latest clash between the president and the prime minister is unlikely to dispel that notion.
Odinga was appointed prime minister in 2008 as part of a power-sharing deal that ended months of election-related violence in which over 1,300 people lost their lives.
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had accused Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) of rigging the December 2007 general election.
An independent report into the violence said that several reforms were necessary if a repeat of the clashes was to be avoided in the next elections in 2012.
However, the ODM and PNU's coalition government has so far failed to implement the recommended reforms, with the two parties instead fighting each other tooth and nail for power.
Odinga had declared Sunday afternoon that Agriculture Minister William Ruto and Education Minister Sam Ongeri were suspended in connection with frauds worth millions.
The president's overruling of his prime minister's decision reveals more cracks in Kenya's coalition government.
"This position should not be interpreted in any way as undermining the ongoing war against corruption," Kibaki said in a statement. "The war against corruption will be successfully fought when we do so in accordance with the constitution and the due process of law."
Odinga's move was a bold one, as ministers are rarely fingered in the East African nation's frequent corruption scandals.
A Price water house Coopers audit recently revealed that 26 million dollars of government money were diverted in a maize scam.
Government auditors also said 1 million dollars were missing from a scheme to provide free primary school education. Britain and the United States have suspended aid to the program over the scandal.
Most Kenyans believe their politicians are irremediably corrupt and more concerned with politicking than tackling the nation's problems. The latest clash between the president and the prime minister is unlikely to dispel that notion.
Odinga was appointed prime minister in 2008 as part of a power-sharing deal that ended months of election-related violence in which over 1,300 people lost their lives.
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had accused Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) of rigging the December 2007 general election.
An independent report into the violence said that several reforms were necessary if a repeat of the clashes was to be avoided in the next elections in 2012.
However, the ODM and PNU's coalition government has so far failed to implement the recommended reforms, with the two parties instead fighting each other tooth and nail for power.
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