End turmoil in parties for better governance

The constant bickering in political parties is increasingly becoming worrisome and points to a deeper governance problem. All the major political parties are in turmoil. Jubilee is sharply divided into Tangatanga and Kieleweke camps.

The National Super Alliance (Nasa) has crumbled, with the affiliate parties tearing into each other. Ford-Kenya is troubled, with two factions fighting for recognition by the Registrar of Political Parties.

Matters are made worse by the fact that the registrar never seems to work independently.

At the centre is lack of democracy and poor party management. For starters, none of the parties has held in any election. The last time a party attempted to hold an election was in 2014.

BALLOT BOXES

Then, the Orange Democratic Party convened a delegates’ convention in Kasarani, Nairobi, but which ended in a fiasco as a group descended on the hall and threw out ballot boxes.

The ruling party Jubilee handpicked its officials after the merger between TNA and URP; none was elected, yet they make decisions that bear on national governance.

We are revisiting this matter because party politics is headed in the wrong direction. Weak or intolerant parties are a threat to democracy.

 Parties form government and the way they are run reflects in statecraft. For example, the division in Jubilee has a direct impact on national government. The party’s MPs have become the strongest critics of the government and out to bring down government agenda.

Other parties are operating at cross purposes. Factional wars driven by selfish interests render parties clueless and too weak to carry out their mandates.

PERSONALITY CULT

Tied to this is the politics of personality cult. Party leaders give direction and members follow unquestioningly even where there are obvious hazards.

The end result is that parties cannot play their democratic roles. For instance, once a vocal party, ODM has gone mute since its leader, Raila Odinga, entered a political truce with President Uhuru Kenyatta. ODM members no longer raise critical issues for fear of antagonising their leader.

Loyalty is paramount for any party, but not blind sycophancy. With opposition parties muzzled, the government is left to do as it pleases and that is the surest path to dictatorship.

The fight for multiparty democracy in the 1980s and early 1990s was to free the political space, not to create ethnic chiefs and cultic leaders. Citizens must demand democracy within parties because that is a sine qua non for good governance.