Defectors exploit grey areas in political parties law

If President Uhuru Kenyatta’s extended Mombasa tour was a fishing expedition, then he will leave with a good catch in the ODM MP Likoni Masoud Mwahima.

The former Mombasa mayor told the Nation last weekend that he would be ditching ODM and the Cord to defend his seat on the Jubilee ticket the 2017 elections.

“My people have not tasted sugar or fruits,” he said in reference to his stint in the Opposition, and as justification from crossing over.

The previous week, Mr Mwahima had generated considerable chatter after he was photographed cradling a thick envelope as he left an appointment with President Kenyatta at Mombasa State House.

He was forced to come out and refute public speculation that the envelope was full of cash, explaining that it contained certificates from job-seeking constituents that he had delivered to the President.

Nevertheless, the justification he provided for defecting, the sugar and fruits analogy, was quite telling in the context of Kenyan political culture.

Mr Mwahima is just of the many elected leaders contemplating defection in what provides clear signs that politicians are already plotting and scheming ahead of the 2017 General Election.

The Coast is one of the Cord zones that the Jubilee regime is aggressively courting ahead of 2017, but the President’s visit also comes on the countdown to the Kilifi Parliamentary by-election.

Several grey areas in the Political Parties Act are what have embolden elected politicians to openly associate with a party other than the one elected on, with no fear of losing their seats because they have not formally defected.

PARTY DEFECTION
It is not only the Coast witnessing early pre-election manoeuvres, most of which seem to reflect Jubilee forays into Cord alliance strongholds.

Most of the early manoeuvring indicates a shift towards Jubilee, especially in the Coast, Western and Lower Eastern Opposition blocs that will be the battleground counties in the 2017 elections.

That might well be an indication that Jubilee has the momentum, and also an illustration of the power of incumbency, especially in a political system where ethnic arithmetic and self-interest usually outweighs ideology and policy.

However, it might not all be going Jubilee’s way.

In the South Rift Valley strongholds of Deputy President Ruto, his namesake and Bomet County Governor Isaac Ruto has started popularising a new Mashinani Development Party.

The pre-election defections, formation of new parties and the shifting of alliances come to the fore largely because of the lack of a political culture built on parties that are identifiable by their ideology, policies and programmes.

Various attempts since the return of multi-partyism to make laws that will inculcate principled political behaviour have not had much effect.

After Kenya went multi-party in 1992, President Moi proved adept at enticing opposition MPs into Kanu.

On defecting they lost their seats, but were then funded for the ensuing by-election.

PROVISION REMOVED

Parliament tried to deal with the mischief of MPs informally defecting but holding on to their seats.

A clause was introduced in the Political Parties Act that an elected official who associates with or espouses the policies of a party other than the one on which he was elected will be deemed to have resigned from his sponsoring party, and must therefore lose his seat.

But the provision proved hellishly difficult to enforce, because it deals with intentions and perceptions rather than specific actions.

Amendments too did away with the provision that an MP expelled from his sponsoring party must lose his seat.

That is the grey area politicians can exploit to publicly signal that they have defected, but refuse to formally resign.

Other than de-whip a rebellious MP, as ODM did with Mr Gideon Mung’aro, by removing him as Deputy Minority Whip, there is little else available to enforce party discipline.

Macharia Gaitho is a former Managing Editor, Special Projects, for the Daily Nation. [email protected]