Pressure mounts as UASU tells Kibaki to resign

The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has called for the resignation of President Kibaki. The union said this was the only way to stop violence and end the political stalemate that has arisen since Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 27 General Election.

Uasu Secretary-General, Dr. Muga K’Olale, claimed Kibaki was in power by mistake since the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) had admitted that the election was flawed. "The most logical thing for the Government to do after ECK Chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, and some of his commissioners admitted that the process was flawed is to resign," he said.

K’Olale said the President’s resignation would pave way for acceptable reconciliation and negotiations. K’Olale said ‘cosmetic’ committees formed to broker peace and restore normalcy would be a waste of time if problems were not addressed and mistakes accepted. He claimed Kenyans were angered by the way the elections had been conducted, adding that it had watered down the decades spent fighting for democratic governance, transparency and accountability. "By 2002, we had created a new nationhood where communities would co-exist without fear or intimidation. But this has gone down the drain," he said. K’Olale cautioned that Kenyans would not tolerate efforts to reverse the democratic gains they had made or a return to the ‘dark days of autocracy’.

He also appealed to the East African Community, the African Union, United Nations, European Union and the United States to intervene before the country plunged into civil war. K’Olale condemned the post-election violence in many parts of the country and appealed to Kenyans to stop turning against one another.