Lets understand what Power Sharing really means. It is not a simple as a "gentleman's agreement" to get things done, like taking turns to drive a car owned between two people.
I know a lot of you are saying, "sure two people can share a car, we do it all the time in our family, therefore power too can be shared by leaders in a country".
OK, perhaps the car analogy was not a good one. Lets try this one. How would you like to share your girlfriend with another man. How would you work that one out. You want to do it with her one way,
then the other man says, "no it's my turn, and besides I don't like the way you do things with her".
Then the other man says, "look, you should be lucky I let you anywhere near her in the first place shorty".
Then the other guy says "what does my height has anything to do with how I do her".
Then the other man say, "I was not talking about your height"....
.................then starts the "merry-go-around" of arguments and insults.
Well, take a read the "monster" that Kofi Annan started in Kenya and see if it's what we want for Cyprus in the future.
By Jeffrey Gettleman Published: March 28, 2008
Deadlock in Kenya over cabinet posts
NAIROBI: Power sharing in Kenya, apparently, is much harder than it looks.
Exactly one month after President Mwai Kibaki and the top opposition leader, Raila Odinga, signed a power-sharing agreement in front of hundreds of cheering Kenyans and the international media, the two remained deadlocked Friday over the formation of a new government.
Their agreement was supposed to usher in a "grand coalition," billed as the only way to end two months of post-election bloodshed, ethnic tension and destruction that turned Kenya, once a paradigm of stability, nearly upside down.
Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general who helped broker the agreement, was hailed as a hero. Pictures of his goateed face have festooned matatus, the rugged little minibuses that prowl Kenya's streets. A baby rhino has even been named after him.
But his work may not be over. On Friday, the two sides continued to bicker over cabinet posts. Kibaki has offered the opposition a number of ministries like roads, public works and tourism and wildlife, but Odinga, who is set to become the prime minister of the new unity government, is holding out for the meatier portfolios, like finance.
Kibaki cannot part with that because "the president sets the national agenda and finance is part of the national agenda," said Alfred Mutua, the president's spokesman. The president, as commander in chief, is also refusing to give up internal security, defense and foreign affairs.
"We were naive to think that after the coalition agreement we would sit down as partners," Mutua said. "They came sitting down as adversaries."
The opposition says it is not about partners or adversaries. It is about fairness. "It can't be that one side gets the 10 most important ministries and the other side gets the balance," said Salim Lone, Odinga's spokesman. "We're being extremely reasonable. We're just saying stick to the spirit of the agreement."
And now Annan seems to be getting dragged back into the dispute. He spoke to both men by telephone this week and the two sides have sent documents to him in New York, laying out their positions.
Annan's response: "They are big boys and can handle this themselves," according to a person close to Annan who was not authorized to speak publicly. "What are we going to do? Have him fly back every time they hit a hard patch? They know what a grand coalition is. It's time for them to do it."
Meanwhile, many of the more than half million Kenyans displaced by the violence continue to suffer. Three women died at a displaced persons camp this past week, according to local news reports, from exposure.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/28/africa/kenya.php
