Law on defections a step backwards in creating strong political parties
What you need to know:
- Mr Namwamba had a fairly legitimate grievance against ODM since the Men In Black thuggery in 2014 robbed him the opportunity to serve the party as the duly elected secretary general.
- In March 2015, Mr Namwamba drew more suspicion to himself after it emerged that he had secretly taped a conversation with the party leader.
The loud falling out in ODM, which saw Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba all but quit the party last week, marks the beginning of a familiar trend in Kenya’s politics.
Indeed the countdown to a Kenyan General Election hasn’t quite begun before a prominent figure has announced he or she is decamping to the rival party, shopping around for an existing but little-known one or forming a new one.
Even the defection stage performance, sound bite and grievance never deviate significantly from the template.
The drill begins with a group of people, said to be local party supporters or delegates, gathering endorsing the defection at a public meeting and ends with the turncoat ‘accepting his or her community’s wish’.
To be fair to Mr Namwamba, he had a fairly legitimate grievance against ODM since the Men In Black thuggery in 2014 robbed him the opportunity to serve the party as the duly elected secretary general.
His subsequent handpicking for the same post, presumably by party leader Raila Odinga, meant that he was always going to be a lame duck.
It didn’t help the Budalang’i’ MP’s case that his detractors somehow succeeded in pinning the ‘Ruto mole’ tag on him, going as far as to suggest that his candidacy was meant to help Deputy President William Ruto control the party by proxy.
In March 2015, Mr Namwamba drew more suspicion to himself after it emerged that he had secretly taped a conversation with the party leader. It is safe to think his goose was cooked then. For a man with a knack for trumpeting how principled he is, he should surely have bolted out long ago.
DEFECTION WINDOW
The fact that he waited for the traditional defection window to open denies him the moral pedestal to stand on.
It is as yet difficult to tell the value Mr Namwamba will add to his next party or the damage his exit has caused ODM.
But it should at least refocus public debate on Kenya’s stillborn multiparty democracy. Understandably, Kenyan political parties haven’t grown to rally their respective membership around any compelling ideas, like their counterparts in the West, with pluralism only reintroduced in the country in 1991.
What is strange is the manner the political class is doing its best to undermine the growth of strong parties by institutionalising defections.
Since 2002, no president or official opposition leader has contested the subsequent election using the ticket of the same party or coalition. On June 30, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Political Parties (Amendment) Act, paving the way for parties to merge and elected leaders to defect without having to lose their seats.
The amended law is personally convenient to the President who is keen to seek re-election next year with the backing of a party bringing together the numerous ones currently affiliated to the ruling Jubilee coalition. But for Kenya’s multiparty democracy, this law is yet another weak link.
[email protected]; @otienootieno
