Kenyan lessons for Zimbabwe crisis

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As political parties in Zimbabwe try to negotiate on power-sharing, Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula tells the BBC what lessons Zimbabwe can learn from Kenya.

Mr Wetangula was on the negotiating team that led to the formation of a grand coalition between President Mwai Kibaki and then opposition leader Raila Odinga earlier this year after violent post-poll clashes.

Mr Wetangula says former foes must sacrifice alot to marry their manifestos I think the Zimbabwe situation is quite a tough one because unlike Kenya where President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have had a history of working together, here you have situation where President Robert Mugabe and [opposition leader] Morgan Tsvangirai are persons who have been displaying public enmity.

So they start from a very difficult positions.

However, one of the critical components of these negotiations is that they must be predicated on trust.

You do not like each other politically but fate has brought you together. So they must proceed on laying the interests of the country above any individual.

You cannot underestimate the role of the army They should go for the process not to create positions for individuals but to create peace and stability to the extent like Kenya, they may come up with a cabinet larger than expected.

President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai must sacrifice a great deal and marry their manifestos and this can be tricky because as they agree, their lieutenants still have the hangover as vicious opponents so they have to thaw the mistrust that is deep rooted so that they can work as a team.

Awkward

Whoever gets an opportunity to serve in the cabinet must be selfless; it is such that the onus on our colleagues to bring Zimbabwe back to the economic rails is so great.

South Africa's leader Thabo Mbeki has been brokering the talks

One hopes that they come up with a team of men and women whose patriotic credentials are impeccable, who are ready not to be hostages of history but are keen to look to the future, so the choice of cabinet is as important as the agreement they sign.

And as Zimbabwe goes into this agreement, which is imminent, the role of the security organs in the country must be addressed by both leaders.

In the run-up to the elections the chiefs said they would not salute anyone other than President Mugabe.

So if Mr Tsvangirai is coming into the coalition as an equal partner it is obvious that these gentlemen will be in a very awkward position, how do you deal with this?

This is an agenda for the two of them, they should either look for born-again chiefs who will respect the new arrangement or start on a clean sheet, because you cannot underestimate the role of the army in Africa and third world countries.

President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai must de-politicise the army and the veterans who now act as a paramilitary wing, this scenario must be contained or these forces will turn round and become an antithesis to what they are doing.

New polls

Even as they talk, we must note that this situation is retrogressive to democracy but it also brings into question whether the usual winner-takes-it-all situation in Africa is the right way to go.

President Mugabe should take advantage of this situation, at 84 years old, he is not a spring chicken In Kenya, we are soul searching on which way forward, so in Zimbabwe they should do the same.

But unlike Kenya, where we had free and fair elections that were only disputed at the tallying, in Zimbabwe violence was a characteristic all through the electoral process.

And even the second round of elections was a sham.

Therefore, the right way to go in Zimbabwe is to go for a transitional government which will first ensure they reconstitute the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and have credible people who can organise an international accepted election.

I suggest that this transitional government should last for between 24 to 36 months.

And President Mugabe should take advantage of this situation, at 84 years old, he is not a spring chicken, and if I had an opportunity to advise him, I would ask him to look for a sunset programme.

It will be the right time for him to prepare the country for a proper and acceptable election process and he would leave a better legacy.

And am sure, if he takes the step to say, "I have done my beat and let someone else take over," all players in Zimbabwe and even in the continent will be happy to confine all what he has done to history and instead look to the future and allow him his stature as an African statesman.