Kenyans express appreciation to Kufuor

From: Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, June 6, GNA - Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Amolo Odinga has expressed appreciation to President John Agyekum Kufuor, for hisleadership and personal efforts in brokering a peaceful resolution of the EastAfrican nation's post-election crisis.
"You proved to be a true African brother at a time when Kenya was torn apart and was on the brink of disintegration."
Premier Odinga expressed the sentiments when he called on President Kufuor in his suite at Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town on Thursday. Both of them are attending the 18th World Economic Forum on Africa. Kenya has been considered one of the most promising countries in Africa - an oasis of stability in a turbulent region, but it spun into chaos after theNational Election Commission declared President Mwai Kibaki winner of aclosely contested election in December last year, over Premier Odinga, whoinsisted, he won most of the votes. The polls fall-out violence left more than 1,000 people killed and displaced over 300,000 others.
President Kufuor who was Chairman of African Union (AU) during the crisis, did not only travel to Nairobi to talk to the feuding parties but set up a three-member Committee of Eminent Africans, chaired by Ghana's most celebrated Diplomat, Mr Kofi Annan, that eventually succeeded to mediate a peaceful solution, culminating in the signing of a power sharing deal.
Premier Odinga said "you did not only get us to talk to each other but brought a message of hope to our country by your intervention." President Kufuor advised the political leaders to keep faith with the agreement they had signed and work together to heal and reconcile the nation. He said they should see themselves as one people and go the extra mile tosecure lasting peace by providing for themselves an enlightened Constitution that would ensure equal rights for the citizenry.