Voters ought to be treated to battles of ideas between Jubilee and opposition

When the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) announced it would flag off 47 high-end campaign vehicles as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations in Mombasa, it sought to achieve two objectives.

One, ensure the governing Jubilee Coalition does not monopolise the news agenda with its transition on Saturday into a single political party in Nairobi.

Two, it moved to interrupt Jubilee’s long-lasting manipulation of the 2017 electoral narrative.

Firstly, this story line depicts the 2017 presidential poll as already won by President Kenyatta and, indeed, the entire General Election as already bagged by Jubilee. The chronicle goes that Jubilee has its sights on Deputy President William Ruto’s 2022 election as president.

Secondly, in an attempt to throw ODM, and the larger Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) opposition, off its 2017 planning scent, Jubilee strategists have sent out fire-starting statements to the effect that Mr Ruto would be abandoned by Jubilee-supporting Mount Kenya communities in his quest for the presidency in 2022.

Thirdly, Mr Ruto and his surrogates, Senators Kipchumba Murkomen and Kindiki Kithure, and National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, have taken turns to mock Cord as a Tower of Babel, lacking a vision for Kenya and, most importantly, unsure whom its presidential torchbearer will be in 2017.

Lastly, Jubilee has instigated and made political capital out of the recent wrangling among Cord’s three principals and defections from ODM. Indeed, Mr Ruto made it clear that ship-jumping Ababu Namwamba was causing chaos in ODM at the instigation of Jubilee.

It is why, while Cord had ended 2015 and begun 2016 dictating the narrative that pinned Jubilee down as bumbling and corrupt, the latter turned the tide about four months ago and has since had Cord on the ropes.

It is here that Jubilee (the coalition) planned to keep Cord cornered with an elaborate propaganda campaign about its transition to Jubilee (the party).

So, three months ago came the news of the dissolution and merger of a dozen parties into Jubilee. Last week, pictures of the new party’s brand new seven storey headquarters in downtown Nairobi emerged. More pictures of 47 branded brand new 4WD Toyota Prados followed as media trumpeted a staggered launch that would cost between Sh300 million and Sh2 billion!

PROPAGANDA AVALANCHE

Threatened with burial under a propaganda avalanche, ODM not only responded with a celebratory jamboree of its own, but also asked the all-important question about Jubilee’s extravagance. Where is the money coming from?

It was not surprising; taunting supporters depicted the Jubilee HQ as the house of the super-rich and the cars as evidence, while deriding ODM’s Orange House as domicile of the slum poor. The answer was offered, dismissively, by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi, one of the key drivers of the merger.

“People can say anything. There is something called the Political Parties Fund and that is where we are getting our funds,” the Daily Nation reported.

The fund in the last fiscal year disbursed Sh87 million to President Kenyatta’s The National Alliance, Sh27.4 million to the DP’s United Republican Party and Sh85 million to ODM.

Now some websites have priced a new petrol-powered, 2690 cc, five-door, seven seater automatic transmission Prado variously at US$38,000, US$43,000 and US$39,000.

If the exchange rate is Sh100 to the dollar and one is buying 47 of these, then one is looking at, say, 43,000X100X47, which adds up to Sh202,100,000. And we have not here factored in the price of the HQs – purchased or leased.

Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja offered a better perspective. He told a local TV station that party members had contributed to the kitty for these purchases. Do not expect details or books of account.

But, it is instructive that parties failed to disclose the sources of their funds for the 2013 General Election in their audited accounts, despite this being a legal requirement.

So what does this brouhaha portend? One, election funding is a source of corruption. In 1992, Kanu printed money and its Youth for Kanu 92 wing served as a conduit for siphoning taxpayer money into a bottomless vote-buying pit.

Two, Jubilee’s alleged affluence versus ODM’s poverty portray the parties as mere labels or brands. But, the electorate should be treated to battles of ideas between the two, with ODM running Jubilee ragged on its record and Jubilee running the opposition ragged defending its record.

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