Reality Check – Political Parties Must Adopt New Strategies. Lessons From ODM Loss in Ikolomani

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Kenneth Oketch

25 June 2011

analysis

James Madison, one of the fathers of American democracy opined that factions [his reference to interest groups] represented “selfish interests that the [American] constitution would check and control” (federalist paper 1961, 129-36). He advocated for broad based coalitions that represented the views and aspirations of the majority for this would be the bedrock of democratic governance. America as we know today has two dominant political parties that fit this bill and citizens to identify with a party based on family tradition or individual political convictions around economy, arms control, abortion, national security, social welfare and taxation among other issues central in the lives of ordinary citizens.

The history of organized political activity in Kenya can be traced to pre-colonial era when people were organized in some kingdoms like the Wanga. Organizations heightened when the white man’s interests increased and people began to formally organize in order to challenge the colonial designs of the white man. This saw the birth of small associations like the Kikuyu Central Association [KCA] led by Harry Thuku that led the infamous 1920s labourers riot and pockets of others across the country. Even though these groupings were semi-formal in nature, they covertly drove a political agenda and could not be classified as political parties. Groupings organized around a primary objective of controlling state power emerged in 1950s. Two major parties KANU and KADU emerged and entered a post independence merger that saw the death of multiparty politics. Later attempts to reintroduce multiparty politics were thwarted after the 1982 aborted coup when Kenya became a de jure one party state.

KANU became baba na mama and dominated all facets of life. Every civil servant had to be a party member and the affairs of the party were run by a small cabal who did not rely on the party constitution or the public interest, but were merely driven by parochialism, triviality and pettiness. The regime thrived in, according to Nyong’o, ‘populism and opportunism’. Political careers were propped overnight while some independent and promising true patriots’ careers ended without grace and unceremoniously; the story of Seroney and Chelagat Mutai serve to buttress this truth. This group of holders of dissenting opinions were labeled “belligerents, enemies of the state and agents of foreign forces bent on overthrowing an otherwise democratically elected government”. Never mind that there were no parties to compete it out in the general elections and even within KANU, the President and Chairman of the party was the automatic nominee who in fact was the only candidate for presidency!

Thanks to forces for second liberation, the country ushered in multi party politics once again in 1992 and by December 2007, the number of political parties had swelled to about 350. The same year there were presidential and parliamentary elections in which the major competing parties were ODM, PNU and ODM-K. Funny enough none of these parties existed three years prior to the elections and majorly drew their support along ethnic blocs. With no clear ideological differences from one another, the manifestos of these parties are as different as they resemble and only ethnicity is a factor.

Break from the trend

It is true that parties have been identified with the regional [ethnic] kingpins more than their ideologies since the reintroduction of multiparty politics. In fact in 1997 elections, nearly all provinces fielded presidential candidate in order to deny the incumbent the requisite 25% of the votes cast from five of the eight provinces. Some parties are only briefcase parties that can be sold to willing buyers when need arises, remember NDP and ODM? 2007 saw the most bizarre of happenings when the president cobbled a reelection party less than three months to the election date and the opposition main challenger, ODM came to life six months to the polls.

However two factors serve to bring this to an end. First, the political parties act 2008 which set out strict rules of playing party politics. Among other things, it requires a party to have a national presence [to the grass root level] and a valid members’ register. It also calls for specialization among party enthusiasts so that a holder of an elective office is not a party official. Second is the new constitution that pundits say has created a social democracy in Kenya. What this means therefore is that party politics are beginning to become central in the politics of this country. While the current coalition arrangement and transitional nature of the country do not allow for an easy shift, the existing political parties must be revamped into viable outfits, strong enough to weave through the challenges of our time and stop marveling at the stale ideas of the past.

ODM is still the most popular party and largely the more organized. While the rank and file in the party has tried to position it as the reform party, a lot still needs to be done to make the party a more cohesive entity built on sound ideological convictions and progressive ideas for social transformation, rather than an outfit whose lifeline is prominent mortals within its ranks embroiled in incessant wrangles over matters that remain oblique to the public. What ails the party is lack of specialization. As a matter of urgency, the party needs to be reorganized into three major components in order to end the “jack [or is it Jill] of all trade” approach in handling of party affairs and completely reenergize supporters and bring back the 2007 magic.

Building blocks

The first component needs to be party in the electorate; the ordinary citizens, party members and enthusiasts. They identify with the party and support its positions on political and social issues. They are the drivers of the party agenda at the grassroots. The members will be effective in this only when ODM learns to consciously perform the Civic education role of political parties. They must educate people on what they stand for. This education could assume various forms; media interviews, town hall meetings, blogosphere, social networking, leaflets and a functional and resourceful party website. This is important in building a civic culture that will promote constructive participation among the registered members and would even seduce non registered voters to register their membership with the party.

Secondly, party organization; the structure set to set party policies, organize party activities and help candidates win positions must be decentralized in order to encourage popular participation. ODM must not start and end with Orange House. Structures must be established at the national, county and local (ward) levels. The party NEC membership must be made clear and drawn from wards through the national level and could perhaps incorporate certain interest or lobby groups whose agenda is in line with that of the party. NEC needs to convene at least once a year and not only when presidential elections are looming. Counties need to have an Executive structure that also meets occasionally to chart the party agenda.

To increase grass root presence, the party could consider organizing around the American model of precincts [units of 200-1000 voters] headed by Captains appointed by higher level party leaders or elected from amongst the members of that Precinct. Precincts would help in registration of voters, party members, rallying people around a party cause and mobilizing people to turn out and vote. Another option would be organizing official party volunteers to do this.

Thirdly, party in Government; this is the groups of representatives sponsored by the party into elective offices. In Kenya, they would be Member of County Assembly [MCA], MP, Senator, Woman MP, Governor and President. They are mandated to influence policy decisions of the government through either executive proposals [President and Governor] or through legislation [MCA, MP, woman MP and to some extent Senator]. The legislators are the ones expected to champion the party cause and a significant degree of party solidarity and party unity voting, they would easily form a majority and see though the party agenda.

The only option

This is what ODM must do in order to remain relevant and in doing so, it will have killed so many birds using one stone. There will be a re-enthused band of followers, an end to party wrangles and maximum delivery on the part of individual who fall within party organizational structure. Accountability, transparency, predictability and popular participation will completely revamp the party and make it ready to face the new challenge introduced by the new constitution and other legislation and the needs of the people.

If nothing is changed and the party continues to exalt personalities, then the future looks bleaker and the party must brace for tougher times ahead. Party mandarins must be wary of the possibility of fluidity in party identification, after all the constitution provides for Independent candidates. This is the greatest threat to ODM since any move that serves not to consolidate its support base only shifts the tectonics to the advantage of the Independents and perhaps an increase in the number of ticket-splitters, voters who vote for two or more candidates from different parties. The risk is a divided government; where President is ODM and majority of MPs and Senators are from other parties, or the Governor is ODM while majority of MCAs are from other parties.

Kenyans clearly want a break from the past. ODM has lost in by-elections where it is considered the dominant party because it has chronically failed to listen to other voices of reason and the centralized and personalized way of handling party affairs. Better watch out for Ikolomani could have been the preamble!

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