Nigeria Content Online

Kenya’s president
said on Friday he had acted properly in making nominations for top
legal posts after the speaker of parliament deepened divisions in the
coalition by declaring them unlawful.

The row over
whether President Mwai Kibaki acted within the law in naming the chief
justice, attorney general and director of public prosecutions has raged
for weeks, pitting Kibaki’s allies against those of Prime Minister
Raila Odinga, who opposed the nominations because he was not consulted.

The dispute has
left their fragile coalition cabinet tottering on the brink of
collapse, and worried investors who sent the shilling and stock market
tumbling.

Kibaki’s
nominations were meant to improve confidence in the judiciary, and
support his case for transferring the trials of key suspects behind the
post-election violence of 2008 to Kenya from the International Criminal
Court headquartered in The Hague.

Kenneth Marende,
the speaker of Kenya’s parliament, said in an eagerly-awaited ruling on
Thursday that Kibaki acted unconstitutionally by failing to consult the
prime minister sufficiently.

Marende asked the
president to start the nominations afresh in a ruling seen by analysts
as a slap in the face for Kibaki and a symbolic political victory for
Odinga.

Lawmakers allied to
Kibaki — who said they had marshalled enough numbers to endorse the
president’s nominees — promised to contest Marende’s ruling. They said
he was biased because he had been elected as speaker by Odinga’s party.

Kibaki said on
Friday he would turn to the judiciary for a resolution of the dispute.
Kenya’s High Court has already issued temporary orders declaring the
nominations unlawful, pending the outcome of a constitutional court
hearing.

An opinion poll showed most Kenyans believe Kibaki flouted the law in nominating the judicial figures.

Above the fray The
president, who has for years cultivated an image of staying above the
fray of Kenyan politics, was true to form by not criticising Marende
directly, but said he had acted constitutionally while naming the top
state officials.

He said the speaker
had given a “different position regarding the constitutional status of
the nominations” in contrast to two parliamentary committees that
Marende had appointed to vet whether Kibaki’s nominations were lawful.

“The principle of
separation of powers between the three arms of government on this
important constitutional issue ought to have been respected,” Kibaki
said in a speech to reporters.

“Therefore, the interpretation of the constitution ought to have
been left to the judiciary.” Political scientist Mutahi Ngunyi said
there was a chance the constitutional court may interpret the issue in
Kibaki’s favour. “Kibaki may know something that we don’t,” he said.