NAIROBI,Kenya Apr 29-Azimio La Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga has eulogized the late Mwai Kibaki by reminiscing the private talks that sealed their power-sharing pact after the disputed election of 2007.
Odinga, for the first time, spoke publicly that there were forces around Kibaki who wanted to sabotage their agreement occasioned by post-election violence that left more than 1.1 million people dead and thousands more displaced.
“Some people wanted to scuttle our agreement after the 2007 chaos and after the private talks I had with Kibaki, some people entered the room to convince him not to sign the deal but Kibaki told them the talks are over and we were now going out to talk to the nation,” Odinga said during the State funeral service accorded to Kibaki at the Nyayo National Stadium on Friday ahead of a burial in Nyeri Saturday.
The power-sharing deal was brokered in Nairobi by the international community led by former UN Secretary Secretary-General, the late Kofi Annan.
The former Prime Minister said that despite the differences he had with Kibaki in their grand coalition government, all were always resolved amicably.
“He always kept his word, and that is how we ended up succeeding,” Raila said of Kibaki who died last week aged 90.
He served as Kenya’s third president from 2002 to 2012 before he handed over to incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kibaki’s failure to honour the 2002 Narc pre-election coalition agreement as pledged caused division like never before in the country causing a highly contested election in 2007 which was marred by chaos and bloodshed.
The 2007 clashes led to violence witnessed thereafter was only ended after the international community brokered a peace agreement between Kibaki and his rival then Odinga.
This paved way to the formation of the 2007 Grand Coalition Government that lasted from 2008 to 2013.
