PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER TELL CODEL PRICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001815

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KBIO KE ZI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER TELL CODEL PRICE
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IS TOP PRIORITY

REF: A. NAIROBI 1659

B. NAIROBI 1698

C. NAIROBI 1500

Classified By: Charge d'Affairs Pamela Slutz, reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (U) CODEL Price has cleared on this cable.

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Summary
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2. (C) In separate meetings held on July 3, CODEL Price heard
from both President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila
Odinga that constitutional reform is one of the Grand
Coalition Government's top priorities. Prime Minister Odinga
also discussed at length the challenges Kenya faces in light
of the wake of post-election crisis: the resettlement of
internally displaced persons, reconstruction of damaged
infrastructure, reconciliation among ethnic groups, and the
need to stimulate economic growth. Odinga also briefly
discussed the situation in Zimbabwe, commenting that based on
recent discussions with other regional leaders, he thought
that both President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai were open to negotiating with one another.
President Kibaki expressed optimism about constitutional
reform and the resolution of issues that fuelled the
post-election crisis in Kenya, particularly land reform. End
Summary.

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Attendees
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3. (U) Representative David Price (D-NC),Chairman of the
House Democracy Assistance Commission (HDAC),met on July 3
with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai
Kibaki. The meeting with Odinga and his staff was also
attended by:

Representative Lois Capps (D-CA),HDAC member
Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN),HDAC member
Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN),HDAC member
Representative Mel Watt (D-NC)
Representative Brad Miller (D-NC)
Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya
John Lis, Staff Director, House Democracy Assistance
Commission
Brad Smith, Professional Staff Member, House Committee on
Rules
Barbara Chow, Policy Director, House Budget Committee
Tommy Ross, Legislative Assistant, Office of Representative
Price
Rachael Leman, Policy Director, Office of Representative
David Dreier
Nicholas Cook, Congressional Research Service
Lauren Ploch, Congressional Research Service
Dwight Al Smith, Embassy Control Officer
Rachael Doherty, Embassy notetaker


4. (U) The meeting with President Kibaki was attended by
Minister of Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula; Ambassador
Chepsongol, Head of Americas Division, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs; Representatives Price, Capps, Ellison, Cooper, and
Watt; Ambassador Ranneberger; staffers Ross and Ploch; and
embassy notetaker.

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Prime Minister Odinga: Constitutional Reform Comes First
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5. (C) On July 3, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his staff
met with the members of CODEL Price to discuss Odinga's views
on Kenya's governmental structure and the way forward in the
wake of the post-election crisis. Odinga explained that
Kenya has inherited a mixed governmental system -- neither
presidential nor parliamentary -- and that the disputed
election (and hung Parliament) led to the need for a
coalition government to form and implement the
constitutional, land, and other reforms necessary to help
Kenya move forward. Gaps in the constitution have led to

NAIROBI 00001815 002 OF 003


regional imbalances and inequalities, Odinga said, and the
post-election crisis has added serious challenges to
coalition government. In addition to the estimated 1,500
deaths and 350,000 internally displaced people, approximately
USD 500 million worth of property was destroyed. While the
U.S. has provided valuable assistance, Odinga said, there is
still a gap.


6. (C) When asked what issue tops his priority list for
parliament to deliver, Odinga lamented that the Kenyan people
have overly high expectations given the promises both parties
made during the election campaign. That said, the two main
political parties forming the coalition government (Odinga's
own Orange Democratic Movement and President Kibaki's Party
of National Unity) have harmonized their manifestos and
identified long term and "mission critical" tasks to help
boost Kenya's economic development for the next 22 years (ref
C). Priority number one, however, would be the delivery of a
new constitution, which he hoped would be tabled as a bill by
April 2009 (ref B).


7. (C) Raila hastened to add that reconciliation,
reconstruction, and resettlement in light of the
post-election violence were top priorities along with
constitutional reform. Other priorities included poverty and
income disparity reduction as well as speeding economic
growth. On the judicial reform front, Odinga said that he
has asked the Chief Justice to improve the quality of service
from judges by putting them on performace contracts. Odinga
also said that he wants to introduce affirmative action into
the parliament by creating elected seats for women only.
This will provide more women an opportunity to get used to
electoral politics so that they can more effectively run for
seats in regular constituencies, he said.

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Odinga: This Coalition Government is An Experiment
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8. (C) When asked how he balances the job of Prime Minister
of a coalition government with being the head of the Orange
Democratic Movement, which ran as an opposition party, Odinga
replied that the current coalition government is an
experiment for the continent of Africa and poses a serious
challenge: "People expect miracles, but how do you unite two
movements who were just at each others' throats?"


9. (C) Odinga explained how he is trying to tranform the
contentious relationships into cohesive ones that can work
together to deliver reform to the Kenyan people. One of his
first acts was to organize a "bonding session" with the
cabinet, which also took the form of explaining how the
cabinet process works. Second, Odinga designed a cabinet
committee system to deal with the bloated but politically
necessary cabinet. Cabinet members are divided into groups
that oversee issues such as reconstruction, security, and
social services and report to plenary sessions. While Odinga
has emphasized that there will be no tolerance for corruption
in the coalition government, he said that he has also
emphasized the importance of not criticizing one another in
public. Odinga noted that the success of the coalition
government experiment will rest on reducing the tension,
fear, and suspicion in cabinet.

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Odinga on Zimbabwe: Both
Sides Wanted to Negotiate
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10. (C) When asked about the situation in Zimbabwe, Odinga
replied that President Kibaki had just spoken with Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe on July 2 in Sharm el Sheikh. In
Kibaki's view, Mugabe is ready to negotiate, but he wants to
up the stakes, Odinga said. "This is the same thing (South
African President Thabo) Mbeki told me when I was in
Capetown: that both parties wanted to negotiate, but they
wanted to do it at different times. Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangarai wanted to negotiate on the basis of the basis of
the first election result. Mugabe wanted to negotiate from
the position of President," Odinga said. "Now Mugabe is in a
position where his party has no majority in parliament and he

NAIROBI 00001815 003 OF 003


needs the opposition. Let's wait and see," Odinga concluded.


11. (C) Although he initially reminded the delegation that he
had been deemed persona non grata in Zimbabwe after his
strong remarks against Mugabe, Odinga did not rule out the
possibility of playing a mediating role in the Zimbabwe
crisis.

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President Kibaki: Bullish on
Constitutional and Land Reform
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12. (C) When asked about his priorities for delivering
results to the Kenyan people, President Kibaki said that a
new constitution is priority number one. The reform process
has been going on for four years now and was nearly agreed
but not completed, he said. "Now there is agreement on 96
percent of the constitution, and I think we'll reach an
agreement over the remainder by this month or next month.
The issue should be resolved by September," Kibaki predicted.


13. (C) Despite previous arguments about land ownership by
different ethnic groups -- particularly in Rift Valley areas
like Eldoret and Nakuru and in some areas of Coast Province
-- Kibaki assured the group that people generally seem to
agree on the way forward. While there are still some sticky
issues, like deviating from traditions of inherited land
ownership, communally owned land, and tribal land now
belonging to wild game parks, Kibaki expressed confidence
that they would be dealt with.


14. (C) On the question of how to heal the nation in the wake
of the post-election violence, Kibaki said that the most
important thing was to get people talking to one another.
"These people have lived together for years," Kibaki said.
"Some are helping to rebuild their communities together,
which begs the question, why were they fighting in the first
place?" He added that the fact that many people from
different ethnic groups are farmers, and planting crops
together "will help quite a lot." Children were not as
affected by the conflict as adults, Kibaki added, as they
know no other home. "They are the ones who will help build a
new country," he said.

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Kibaki: No Confidence Vote on
Kimunya Didn't Focus On Issues
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15. (C) When asked about his thoughts regarding the previous
day's parliamentary vote to censure Finance Minister Amos
Kimunya for his role in the Grand Regency Hotel scandal
(septel),Kibaki expressed frustration with the tenor of
debate among parliamentarians. "The debate quickly shifted
to other matters... I couldn't see what they were arguing
about, but I was pleased to see that Minister (Kinunya)
remained cool," Kibaki said.


16. (C) Comment: The meeting with President Kibaki was late
in the day, and as the meeting wore on his fatigue showed.
He consistently glossed over difficult issues and at times
did not appear to understand the questions being asked. On
some occasions, Foreign Minister Wetangula stepped in to
answer on Kibaki's behalf. The land issue was clearly on
Kibaki's mind, and he formulated many of his answers around
it even when the question did not touch on land at all.
Odinga, on the other hand, appeared to be at the top of his
game, nailing his talking points and answering questions
diplomatically and clearly. End Comment.
SLUTZ