Primaries will make or break new Jubilee party

The train has left the station and by the end of this week, Kenya’s political landscape will significantly change.

The merging of political parties that want to share President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy President William Ruto’s vision of a united country of parties that have inclusivity as part of their formations will definitely tilt the way our political parties are managed.

This new party will be the most organised arena to express and merge our diversity as a country in an avenue that looks forward to a future of social-econo-political development.

Yes, we are in a multi-party democracy. However, at no time was multi-partism envisaged to have parties whose only interests stretched just within a certain ethnic grouping or region. It was largely to give Kenyans their democratic rights and space to choose their political inclinations and express them freely.

Time is ripe for our nation to nurture political organisations with institutionalised democratic processes that affirm transparency and accountability and also allow the popular voice of the people to govern in line with our constitutional framework.

ADOPTING INCLUSIVE PROCESS

Jubilee has not shied away from adopting an inclusive process, which enabled the participation of smaller political parties with the ultimate effect of allowing the beauty of Kenya’s diversity to speak in one voice rather than speaking in many inaudible voices.

The new party’s future will, therefore, lie on how its structures will offer a level playing ground during the nominations for candidates who will carry its flag in the 2017 elections. In most of Jubilee’s strongholds, party primaries are the real election and as such, utmost care must be taken to give voters the fairest opportunity to choose their candidates.

The party must be protected from forces within and outside its ranks, whose mission would be to derail efforts to stage credible nominations.

In 2013, several mistakes must have happened where candidates of the Jubilee coalition lost at the ballot to their competitors who had allegedly lost at the party nominations.

In Jubilee, nominations will not be business as usual. The process is anchored on a strong national elections board, whose mandate will be replicated to a great extent to the county nominations board. Right from the top, the party’s structures will not leave any room for unfair competition.

All candidates are equal and will be treated as such because the ultimate goal is to get new soldiers, regardless of their different situation and status.

Mrs Maina is the secretary-general of Jubilee Alliance Party of Kenya ([email protected])