KENYA:Kenya's politicians traded accusations of vote-rigging, intimidation and even murder amid shambolic scenes at the opening of parliament yesterday.
Opposition MPs made good on their promise to disrupt proceedings while the results of the presidential election remain in doubt.
Business was paralysed for an hour - in a possible sign of things to come - as they disputed procedures used to elect a new speaker. Kenneth Marende, the opposition candidate, eventually won in the third round of voting by four votes.
Attempts to heal the rift also suffered a setback yesterday when Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the United Nations, was taken ill with flu shortly before boarding a flight from Geneva to Kenya. He was due to lead mediation efforts.
Roads were closed outside the National Assembly and riot police in body armour ringed the building in downtown Nairobi as MPs returned to work.
Much of the country remains tense after violence that has left at least 600 people dead and forced 250,000 more from their homes.
Fresh demonstrations are planned today by supporters of Raila Odinga who believe he was cheated of the presidency in elections held at the end of last month. Mr Odinga was given a warm welcome as he entered the parliament chamber, while opposition MPs ensured President Mwai Kibaki was greeted in frosty silence.
If things had started badly, they degenerated rapidly as opposition MPs flexed their muscles.
Mr Odinga's supporters have promised to undermine Mr Kibaki's attempts to conduct business as usual. Yesterday they sabotaged the first attempt at electing a speaker, insisting that a secret ballot was not needed.
"We went into the election with a secret ballot and you stole it," said William Ruto, one of Mr Odinga's key lieutenants in the Orange Democratic Movement, as he faced the government benches.
The ODM has targeted the speaker's position as a way of controlling business in the house. Their 99 MPs dwarf the 43 seats won by Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity, giving the opposition a chance to stifle the government's legislative programme.
"It has always been by secret ballot," responded Martha Karua, minister for justice and constitutional affairs, jumping up from the high-backed leather benches modelled on the British House of Commons. "Some people with the title 'honourable' in this house are planning murder and instituting murder."
Opposition gangs have been accused of ethnic cleansing, largely in the Western Rift Valley, where they have targeted members of Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.