Kenya will always be grateful to former UN Secretary-General, the late Kofi Annan for midwifing the 2007/2008 mediation process, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said.
Mudavadi has said Kenyans owe Annan a debt of gratitude for leading the panel of Eminent African Personalities that ended the 2007/2008 Post-Election Violence following the disputed 2007 General Elections.
During the unrest, about 1,400 Kenyans lost their lives and some 600,000 people were displaced.
“Through peace mediation, Kofi Annan steered a team involving the late former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa and Madam Graca Machel, wife to late former South African President Nelson Mandela and they helped Kenya through a mediation process that lasted 42 days at Serena, Nairobi. During that period Kenya was able to move away from the edge of the cliff,” Mudavadi said.
Mudavadi was speaking when he paid respect at Kofi Annan’s final resting place in Burma Military Camp on the last day of his visit to Ghana where he had accompanied President William Ruto for a State visit.
The Prime CS was among the eight members of the negotiating team. He was on the Raila Odinga’s ODM side then together with William Ruto, James Orengo and Sally Kosgei while former President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity had Martha Karua, Moses Wetangula, Prof Sam Ongeri and the late Mutula Kilonzo.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary said Annan’s steadfast quest to save Kenya from the brink of collapse also helped in the birth of the 2010 Constitution and a series of reforms.
He said the laws have helped Kenya since then to bounce back on a progressive trajectory as a democracy.
“As a result of the mediation process, we found our feet and direction as a nation and we were able to midwife the Grand Coalition Government. We were able to put together the 2010 constitution, which has been hailed as one of the most progressive constitutions in Africa and globally,” Mudavadi said.
He emphasised a collective responsibility by Kenyans through their leadership in ensuring that the Constitution is fully implemented in spirit and letter.
Mudavadi said Annan’s role in mediating was intensive and enduring since both sides had maintained a hard-line stance at the negotiating table.
“When Kofi Annan passed away many of us were not able to join the family and Ghanaians in paying our respects. My reflection on his efforts to restore peace in Kenya and globally is part of the reason why, I have used this opportunity while in Ghana to pay respect to him not just for myself but on behalf of Kenyans to express our gratitude also to Ghana because during our hour of need they stepped forward to help us bridge our differences and today Kenya is moving forward progressively,” Mudavadi said.
The Ghanaian diplomat, Annan served as UN secretary-general from 1997 to 2006 and shared the Nobel Prize of 2001 with the United Nations.