On January 9, Kufuor met separately with Kibaki and Odinga. Government statements on that day emphasized Kibaki's commitment to dialogue and said that he had "already initiated a process of dialogue with other Kenyan leaders". Kibaki also gave a speech in which he said that the vote was concluded, that it was impossible to change the outcome, and that any complaints should be handled through the courts. The two sides agreed to "an immediate cessation of violence as well as any acts which may be detrimental to finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing crisis", but the talks otherwise failed when, according to Nyongo, Kibaki refused to sign an agreement (which was already signed by ODM representatives) presented to him by Kufuor that would have provided for an interim coalition government and an inquiry into the Electoral Commission; the government, however, blamed Odinga for the failure of the talks, saying that he was not responsive to Kibaki's offer of dialogue. Kufuor left Kenya on January 10, saying that both parties had agreed to continue talks together with former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and "a panel of eminent African personalities";Annan's office subsequently said that he would lead future talks but that he was not likely to go to Kenya before January 15. Kibaki's new Cabinet ministers were sworn in on January 10.
On January 11, the ODM called for mass rallies to be held in about 30 places in the following week; the police said that the rallies were banned. Nyongo also called for international sanctions against Kibaki's government. On January 12, the EU said that there could not be "business as usual in Kenya" without a compromise and a solution to the dispute, and Frazer also said that the US could not conduct "business as usual in Kenya" under the circumstances, saying that Kibaki and Odinga should meet in person, "without preconditions", and that both sides "should acknowledge serious irregularities in the vote tallying which made it impossible to determine with certainty the final result". In addition, she called for the lifting of the bans on live television coverage and rallies.
Roads and Public Works Minister John Michuki said on January 14 that Annan was not coming at the government's invitation and reiterated the claim that Kibaki won the election. EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said on the same day that EU aid to Kenya could be reduced as a result of the election. Parliament opened on January 15, and Annan was expected to arrive on the same day. ODM Members of Parliament said that they intended to sit on the government side in Parliament, asserting their claim to have won the election They took the opposition side, however, with Odinga taking the Leader of the Opposition's seat. Although the ODM wanted an open ballot instead of a secret one in the election for the Speaker of Parliament, the government side opposed this and the vote was conducted through secret ballot. In the first round of voting, the ODM's candidate for Speaker, Kenneth Marende, received 104 votes and the government's candidate, Francis ole Kaparo, received 99 votes; in the second round Marende received 104 votes and Kaparo received 102. Although a two-thirds majority was required in the first two rounds, subsequently only a simple majority was required, and Marende was elected in the third round with 105 votes against 101 for Kaparo. Meanwhile, it was announced that Annan's visit would be delayed for a few days because he had fallen ill with the flu.
The ODM's planned protests, intended to last for three days, began on January 16. Police met the protests with force and prevented them from reaching Uhuru Park in Nairobi; protests also took place in other parts of the country, including Kisumu and Eldoret. At least two people were reported killed in Kisumu as police used live ammunition against the protesters, along with tear gas. Odinga, in an interview with BBC's HARDtalk, responded to Justice Minister Martha Karua's earlier claim that the ODM had planned "ethnic cleansing" by saying that her accusation was "outrageous" and that the violence perpetrated by his supporters was a reaction to the actions of the police, who he said had been ordered to shoot "members of certain ethnic communities". The protests continued on January 17, with police continuing to use force against them. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said that the government would not be swayed by the threats of development partners to withdraw aid.
A train was looted in Kibera by residents due to shortages caused by the crisis. Odinga alleged that police killed seven people in Nairobi, while a police spokesman, Eric Kiraithe, said that the police were acting lawfully and were showing restraint because the protesters were being "used by politicians". The ODM said that after the last day of protest on January 18, it would focus on boycotting companies controlled by Kibaki's allies. By January 18 at least 22 people were reported to have been killed in the three-day protests, with the last day seeing the most deaths. The protests were considered to be substantially diminished in strength compared to those in late December. On January 19, despite the ODM's earlier announcement that it would cease protests, it said that protests would resume on January 24.(Courtesy of AP and DNA).
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