VOA常速英语2008年-Kenyans Concerned About Growing Number of Minis

By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
04 April 2008

An end to the impasse¹ over the composition of Kenya's new power-sharing government may be at hand. But many Kenyans are frustrated² by the expanded size of the proposed cabinet. For VOA, Derek Kilner reports from Nairobi.

As part of a deal brokered³ by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February following disputed elections, Kenya's two main parties agreed to evenly share control of the ministries⁴ in a new power-sharing government.

Yesterday, President Mwai Kibaki and opposition⁵ leader Raila Odinga, who is set to fill the new office of prime minister, agreed to name a cabinet of 40 ministers, an increase from the 34 in the previous government.

The announcement has come as a disappointment to many who had called for a smaller cabinet, saying that 34 ministries - let alone 44 - would be a waste of resources.

Gladwell Otieno, director of the Africa Center for Open Governance has been one of the most vocal⁶ proponents⁷ of reducing the number of ministries.

"What's happened in the end is that realpolitik has prevailed and patronage⁸ has prevailed," said Otieno. "Horse trading has gone on, debts have to be paid and friends have to be rewarded. Politicians must be pampered⁹ and they've created a massive cabinet."

Otieno says she had hoped that Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, or ODM, would stick to its position of not increasing the size of the cabinet.

Some members of ODM felt similarly. Ababu Namwamba is one of the many new ODM lawmakers elected in December on a wave of dissatisfaction with the previous government's failure to effect reforms.

"I want to join other Kenyans in expressing my disappointment with the size of this cabinet which definitely was unnecessary," said Namwamba. "The least Kenyans expected was retention¹⁰ of the size of the cabinet which was 34. But to raise it to 40 is definitely uncalled for and extravagant¹¹."

Stephen Lugalia, chairman of the Institute of Certified¹² Public Accountants of Kenya, criticized the large amount of money that will be required to sustain the new bureaucracy.

"We are looking at a minister for example taking home just over a million shillings and this is just the direct salary cost," said Lugalia. "Of course there is institutional cost also. The office setup, the motor vehicles and as you know the Kenyan ministers will want to have one or two cars. If you put together all that cost it's going to be enormous."

The monthly salary of one million shillings is roughly $15,000. Kenyan media have reported estimated costs for the new government at roughly $5.5 billion a year, an increase of over $800 million from the current cost.

Critics say a developing country like Kenya cannot afford such costs in good times, and especially not when the country is still dealing¹³ with the economic impact of the recent post-election violence.

Tiberius Barasa is a researcher at the Insitute for Policy Research and Analysis in Nairobi.

"Our economy is struggling and cannot sustain it given what has happened in terms of the shocks we received after the December election," said Barasa. "Many people are still displaced. They need to be assisted. The roads are in a pathetic situation. And yet we are allocating¹⁴ all this money to the salaries of the ministers."

Meanwhile, in a reminder¹⁵ of the continuing threat of unrest in the country, the New York-based organization Human Rights Watch released a report on the situation in the country's western Mt. Elgon area, where a military operation is targeting a militia¹⁶ group blamed for hundreds of killings¹⁷ in the past two years in a conflict over land distribution. The group charged both the military and the militia, known as the Sabaot Land Defense¹⁸ Force with war crimes.

The report says that while the Mt. Elgon conflict predates the recent elections, the militia was involved in election-related violence.

1 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

2 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

4 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

7 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

8 patronage   

n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场

参考例句：

• Though it was not yet noon,there was considerable patronage.虽然时间未到中午，店中已有许多顾客惠顾。
• I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this.很抱歉，我的赞助只能到此为止。

9 pampered   

adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lazy scum deserve worse. What if they ain't fed up and pampered? 他们吃不饱，他们的要求满足不了，这又有什么关系？ 来自飘（部分）
• She petted and pampered him and would let no one discipline him but she, herself. 她爱他，娇养他，而且除了她自己以外，她不允许任何人管教他。 来自辞典例句

10 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

11 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

12 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 allocating   

分配，分派( allocate的现在分词 )； 把…拨给

参考例句：

• Administrative practice generally follows the judicial model in allocating burdens of proof. 在分配举证责任方面，行政实践通常遵循司法模式。
• A cyclical multiplexing technique, allocating resources in fixed-time slices. 以固定的时间片分配资源的循环复用技术。

15 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

16 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

17 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。