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Raila blamed for stalemate in review talks

Delegates at the Mombasa retreat in a group discussion on the last day of the gathering.

Roads, Public Works and Housing minister Raila Odinga has been blamed for the constitutional review stalemate. 

Assistant minister Wilfred Machage said Mr Odinga's absence from the consensus-building talks in Mombasa was a signal for other MPs from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) wing of Narc to also stay away. 

Mr Machage said Mr Odinga should to stop taking Kenyans for a ride and state his position on the constitutional review.

Describing the minister as an "intelligent and focused leader", Mr Machage said that Mr Odinga should have joined his colleagues in the meeting to ensure the country got a new constitution.

"After having said Kibaki Tosha! during the run-up to the 2002 elections, Mr Odinga ought to have stood with the Government," said the Home Affairs assistant minister.

Mr Machage, who was speaking in Mombasa at the end of the talks, described the them as "a positive development in the constitution making process".

He said that the meeting was a great success, as more than 100 MPs attended.

The number would have ben higher, but some were out of the country on duty. 

Incidentally, Mr Odinga is on an official assignment in Germany. 

Mr Machage, who was secretary to the meeting, said it had received "tremendous" support from the church and the public. 

Mr Machage asked Kenyans to be patient, as it was not impossible to have a new consitution by the June 30 deadline. 

Ford-People leader Simeon Nyachae, who had earlier rejected the meeting, gave a keynote address in which he said the wrangling in Narc was a hindrance to constitutional review.