Prime minister post in BBI can strengthen parties

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report has recommended the establishment of the Office of the Prime Minister. The person should  be “an elected member of the National Assembly from a political party having a majority of members in the National Assembly, or if no political party has a majority, one who appears to have the support of a majority of MPs.” In the second instance, this would be the person supported by a coalition with majority MPs in the National Assembly.

For the proposed system to yield political stability, the country, going forward, should have nationally based and democratic political parties. Kenya’s history defies such reality. The three possible exceptions have been the Kanu of independence, Jubilee and ODM. Jubilee’s unity is currently on the balance. The fact that the country’s political parties and coalitions are largely formed on ethnic lines undermines their longevity.

Surprisingly, the current key political figures have largely worked in the same political formations since independence. For example, in the late 1990s, Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga, William Ruto and Kalonzo Musyoka were together in Kanu. In 2002, Mwai Kibaki, Raila and Musyoka were on one side, while Kenyatta, Musalia Mudavadi and Ruto were on the other side, only to be separated by the 2005 referendum.

Are Kenya’s political parties then stable enough to guarantee that a quasi-parliamentary system will produce political stability and national unity that BBI seeks?

Kenya as of August 2019 had 68 registered political parties. The 2017 elections produced 20 parties which had representation in Parliament.

Both the constitution and the political parties act (2007 & 2011) envisage existence of robust political parties. These must “have national character; with a democratically elected governing body; which promote and uphold national unity; abide by the democratic principles of good governance; promote and practice democracy through regular, fair and free elections within the party; respect the rights of all persons to participate in the political process including minorities and marginalised groups; respect and promote human rights.”

The Constitution further provides that political parties shall not be founded on religious, linguistic, racial, ethnic, gender or regional basis. Also, they are not to engage in corruption, or accept or use public resources to promote their interests or those of candidates in elections.

Any person who wishes to form a political party should articulate a clear ideology or vision so that one party can be distinguished from others and attract core support. Such supporters should enlarge the above ideological position. In mature democracies of the West, two main political parties have historically been associated with a liberal and a conservative tradition.

To form a party in Kenya, the promoters must collect signatures of at least 1,000 registered voters from a minimum of 24 counties. By June, 2017, Kenya’s registered voters were 19,611,423. A political party must have functional offices and branches in the above minimum counties.

Unfortunately, after registration, most parties stop recruiting members and engaging them in party activities. Parties, like the legendary phoenix, come to life and after elections, they fizzle into ashes only to be revived during the following electoral season.

Kenya’s political parties rarely have democratic elections. Some positions in the party structure are filled through appointments by the top party brass. Usually, there is no renewal for these positions.

During elections, party nominations are rarely subjected to a democratic process. Often, one can buy such party nominations.

Consequently, political parties in Kenya tend to be the property of a club for the top leadership. They are also largely regionally based outfits despite the prevalent legal norms.

Even in the West where political parties have a long history of existence such as the Republican and the Democratic parties in USA or the Conservative and Labour parties of UK, recently no party enjoys dominant majority. Minority political parties have become so critical because their support is courted by the dominant party/ies.

From Kenya’s 2017 elections, Jubilee (a merger of TNA, URP and other small parties) garnered 171 MPs. This was the dominant party, but was short of 4 MPs to become the majority party.

Therefore, it could not have produced a prime minister according to the BBI formula without seeking a coalition partner. Clearly, the proposed changes in the executive require the existence of a main party, which is obviously the dominant one. It also must be cohesive enough so that in future it does not break up.

Jubilee Party could have formed a coalition with ODM which had 76 MPs or Wiper which had 23 MPs or ANC with 14 MPs or Ford-K, which had 12, or KANU which had 10 MPs. However, Jubilee, in the first instance, wooed most of the 14 independents. These are not necessarily candidates who stood as independents due to ideological persuasion but were afraid of electoral rigging during party nominations. Further, if Jubilee was to fragment, it would then lose its dominant position, with Jubilee A, Jubilee B and ODM having more or less the same strength.

A majority in the national assembly or even senate is critical towards the smooth execution of government business.

In the West, when a ruling party or coalition loses its majority, then the government falls. Israel, Spain, Italy and Japan are examples of governments which have been challenged when they lose a majority in the lower house.

Again in the West, political coalitions are usually products of protracted negotiations. These are not about how many people will serve in government, but what percentage of policies from the cooperating parties will be implemented in the joint government.

Kenya’s coalition-making experience has been disappointing. Coalitions are usually made to be broken. In the BBI proposed executive model, it would be extremely costly to breach coalition agreements because it can lead to the collapse of a government.

The writer is the Governor, Makueni County.