Time: 10:00-11:30
Venue: Bergen Resource Centre for International Development, Jekteviksbakken 31

On February 28th 2008, the two disputants in Kenya’s 2007 presidential election, Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, signed the Kenya National Accord that set up the Grand Coalition government. This unique moment has been celebrated as a significant milestone in securing an African solution to an African problem. But questions still linger on how Kenya pulled itself from the brink and whether there are any lessons in the power sharing arrangement that the Kenyan example offers to mediation processes in other conflict situations? This presentation will attempt to address these two questions.

Godwin R. Murunga teaches in the Department of History, Archaeology and Political Studies at Kenyatta University, Nairobi KENYA. He is a member of the CODESRIA Executive Committee and has edited two recent books titled Kenya: Struggles for Democracy, (Dakar and London: CODESRIA in Association with Zed Books, 2007) and a collection of Issa Shivji’s essays titled Where is Uhuru? Reflections on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa, (Oxford: Fahamu Books, 2009).