NAIROBI, November 3 – Members of Parliament from the Party of National Unity have been invited to a meeting on Friday morning at Harambee House, which is expected to be chaired by President Mwai Kibaki.
Invites to the meeting were sent to MPs via the Short Message Service (SMS) by the chairman of the Central Kenya Parliamentary Group Ephraim Maina.
The meeting had initially been set for Tuesday morning but was put off to Friday.
"Please be informed that the meeting scheduled for tomorrow with his Excellency the President Hon Mwai Kibaki has been postponed to Friday November 7 at Harambee House at 10am," the SMS from Eng Maina said.
The MPs had earlier been invited to pre-planning meeting by the Mathira MP at a Nairobi Hotel, through SMS’s that were sent on Sunday.
"Following the planned meeting with His Excellency the President, you are invited to a prior meeting tomorrow (Monday) starting at 2pm."
Both meetings were intended to reach a common position on the way forward in the implementation of the report by the Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence (CIPEV) commonly known as Waki Report.
The meetings come amid widespread divisions within PNU, with some of the members trashing the Waki findings and others calling for its full implementation.
The chairperson of the affiliate NARC Kenya Martha Karua has openly maintained that the report must be fully implemented. However, her decision has brushed most of her party members the wrong way.
Sources at Monday afternoon’s meeting told Capital News that the meeting wanted to adopt a common stand ahead of Friday’s meeting with the President.
Last Friday Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka held a meeting with several PNU Cabinet Ministers and Assistant Ministers where he urged the party members to hold consultations ahead of Friday’s meeting to ensure a common stand was adopted.
He said it was necessary for the party to agree before the report was tabled in Parliament for discussion.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) last Thursday rejected the Waki findings in its entirety, during its Parliamentary Group (PG) Meeting.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga who earlier had called for the implementation of the report was compelled to rebuke the report after his party MPs strongly criticised the findings.
They said the report had "incurable errors, defects and fundamental constitutional contradictions."
ODM PG secretary Ababu Namwamba said the contents of the secret envelop that was handed over to the chief mediator of the Kenya peace talks Kofi Annan could not be subjected to legal proceedings or investigation within or outside Kenya.
The party also took issue with failure to disclose the contents of the report to President Mwai Kibaki – who was the appointing authority of CIPEV and vowed to block any attempt to try those implicated.
The civil society and several religious leaders have joined the former UN chief’s calls for the implementation of the report.
The international community has also urged Kenya to implement the findings to fight impunity as well as deal with culprits blamed for the post election crisis.
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