In the name of peace, Kibaki, Odinga should negotiate

Last week brought some respite in Kenya’s now volatile politics, as efforts to negotiate a settlement to the leadership crisis was going on. The African Union chairman and Ghanaian president John Kufuor tried to broker a peace deal between President Mwai Kibaki and ODM president Raila Odinga, but left the country without success, prompting Odinga to call for massive national demonstrations for three days beginning Wednesday to Friday. There is now no doubt that there were gross electoral irregularities that swept Mwai Kibaki to the presidency, given the fact that even the electoral commission chairman himself declared he was not sure whether Kibaki had indeed won the polls.