ODM calls three days of mass action
Story by NATION Reporter and REUTERS Publication

The Orange Democratic Movements is set to resume street protests against President Kibaki following the collapse of talks to broker a peace deal over the contested presidential poll.

The party has announced three day of mass protests countrywide on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week, even as former UN boss Kofi Annan is expected to reopen mediation and the new Parliament has been summoned for Tuesday.

“Talks between ODM and the other side have collapsed due to the resufal of that side to negotiate with us. We are not ‘unresponsive’ at all. We worked hard, together with other parties, to come up with a just solution,” said party secretary Prof Anyang Nyong’o at a Press conference.

ODM listed 15 venues countrywide where they will hold protests beginning 10am on each of the three days. The rallies will be held in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kakamega, Eldoret, Kapsabet, Kisii, Kericho, Nyeri, Embu, Machakos, Voi, Garissa, Narok and Siaya.

Previous demonstrations have led to riots and bloody clashes between ODM supporters and riot police, adding to a total death toll of over 500 since the December 27 vote.

The Government has previously maintained that public rallies are outlawed until the political mood in the country calms.

"Dialogue is not engaged in the streets. Dialogue suggests that people resolve their differences peacefully, over a table, not through destroying property and killing innocent Kenyans," Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta told reporters.

Yesterday's failure of African Union head and Ghanaian President John Kufuor to broker a deal has sent panic across the country with many fearing a fresh riots.

On his way back to home, President Kufuor said Mr Annan, another Ghanaian, would lead a group of eminent Africans in another push to resolve the crisis.

The ODM leaders skipped a meeting that President Kibaki had called for 2.30pm, maintaining that they would only engage the Head of State in talks chaired by an internationally recognised mediator.

The West, including the United States and Kenya's former colonial ruler Britain, has expressed displeasure at irregularities in the presidential vote count, and is pressing for some sort of power-sharing agreement.

In the latest statement from abroad, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged both sides "to engage without any pre-conditions" and "agree on a way to share power so as to reflect the clear democratic will of the Kenyan people."

At the same time, ODM-Kenya’s Kalonzo Musyoka has come out to explain why he accepted the Vice-Presidency offered by President Kibaki. Mr Musyoka came third in the disputed presidential poll but has since joined President Kibaki’s Government.

Mr Musyoka said he wanted to ensure the nation remains intact following the violence that rocked the country after President Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election.

Addressing a Press conference at his Jogoo House office earlier today, Mr Musyoka said the move was also dictated by the party’s policy to work in a coalition.

He said ODM-Kenya now has an opportunity to push for the implementation of some of its policies as opposed to common belief that its goals and principles will be swallowed by those of President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU).

“ODM-Kenya has entered a coalition Government. I am here to tell you that the party’s principles and goals are closer to being realised today than at any other time in our party’s history,” Mr Musyoka said.