Parties: Broken Engine of Progressive Politics

The centrality of political parties in the growth of progressive politics cannot be gainsaid. In democracies political parties are expected to set the standards of good leadership and progressive politics. In a nutshell, they are the drivers of politics and the quality of political parties determines the overall politics in a state. Articles 91 and 92 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, set the threshold for political parties so high in order to prepare them for the respectable job of governing a country, in case they win a General election.

Regrettably, the political class have defied the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and their wish is to maintain political parties in a ramshackle state. Currently, political parties are not used as institutions of merchandizing sound and concrete ideologies. Instead, they have been hijacked by self-interested individuals to massage the differences of a people as the shortest route to gain popularity and eventually power.

In the recent past, Kenya has witnessed political parties’ indiscipline at its peak.  Members of political parties have been forming political parties while still maintaining the membership of the party that sponsored them in various positions of leadership. This is unheard off and therefore a blatant violation of the law.

The political parties’ honchos and the Registrar of Political Parties (RPP), who are supposed to be prefects of the parties may be accused of tolerating and brooding runaway indiscipline. Errant political party members are hardly disciplined.

Party hopping was legitimized by the 10^th Parliament when they amended the Elections Act in 2012. Their main line of argument was that, there is lack of internal democracy and members of political parties should be free to switch their allegiance at will. In hindsight, this claim is true.  For the longest time, most political parties in Kenya have been acting as a sole proprietorship where one person together with their cronies call the shots. In such an environment, fears that, when they don’t like you, they may lock you out are valid.

Fundamentally, political parties’ discipline lies with its members and leadership. It is ironical that most Kenyans over 18 years of age don’t participate in political parties and yet they are primarily meant for them. Enrolment in a political party puts one in a position to dictate what happens therein, and with it the power to shift our politics from personality-driven to ideology-centred politics. Party discipline is difficult to attain if the outfits are not institutionalized based on a specific philosophy.

The National Assembly’s legal affairs committee has expressed its intention to exonerate the rebels who have hopped from the parties that sponsored them to various elective positions by amending the Political Parties Act. If the proposed amendment goes through, it will be a big blow to “principled democracy” and an endorsement to self-interest politics. In the wake of “brown envelope” politics the amendment will only introduce more dishonesty.

In the end, real change depends on individual Kenyans. Political parties have been the most underutilized institutions of governance, why don’t we register as members and start influencing them?

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on Feb. 1, 2016

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