Youth need to shape Kenya’s party politics

As has been the tradition since Kenya ushered in multiparty democracy and every time an election approaches, political realignments have started taking place.

Political parties have started seeking coalitions with the aim of securing leadership positions in government after next year’s General Election.

Although realignments that include negotiating broad coalitions and electoral deals that could change voting patterns are healthy for a country that has been politically socialised on ethnicity and has for many years sought elusive unity, things have not taken the expected direction in Kenya.

It is undeniable that the Constitution has established a foundation for building strong issue-based political parties. However, the crisis in political parties, which are characterised by exclusion, patronage, and ethnicity, remains, threatening to undermine the growth of democracy.

Most political parties in Kenya are still created as electoral vehicles instead of entities that can discuss serious policy options. They do not set their sights on long-term strategies and growth. Therefore, parties lack internal democracy, strong structures, discipline, and critical ideologies that can define the country’s development agenda.

Without an ideology, it is difficult to define how politics can accommodate various players, especially the youth, a critical constituent that has experienced challenges for many years and one always considered of huge political capital during elections in Kenya.

Once the ongoing party politics takes shape, it will be followed by drafting of party manifestoes without clear strategies on how problems affecting youth, such as unemployment, will be addressed.

No political party, in its management and leadership, has been keen to identify youth as a key constituent — to be involved in decision-making, and not as passive recipients of charity.

VOTER APATHY

Without strong support and involvement, there is likely to be voter apathy among the youth, who are less ethnicised and who may sway the direction of Kenya’s future politics.

 Active youth participation in politics is in doubt. Youth have largely been marginalised, excluded from decision-making in political parties, and denied the chance to determine their own destiny.

Statistics show that Kenya’s unemployment rate stands at 40 per cent. Sadly, seven out of every 10 people who are jobless are youth, who also constitute 60 per cent of Kenya’s population.

Youth are said to constitute about 67 per cent of the voters in Kenya. This is a huge pool to tap because they could tilt the vote. The lack of hope in the future is the cause of rage among the youth.

Therefore, active and meaningful participation of citizens, especially the youth, in politics is critical for the development of democracy in Kenya.

More importantly, Kenyans should continue to demand that political parties are accountable, free of ethnic chauvinism, corruption, and patronage.
Advanced democracies galvanise support through development agendas, defining polity into a bipolar system where there is a government in place and an equally strong opposition or government-in-waiting.

Kenya seems to be moving in the direction of deepening democracy in political parties. 

The ongoing political realignments have opened up an opportunity for citizens to push for issues that political parties have for long neglected.

Kenyans, especially the youth, should take advantage of this to shape party politics. Democracy depends on lively participation of citizens in political life.
 
Mr Obonyo is the author of Conversations about the Youth in Kenya. [email protected].