It's in Wetang'ula's interest to hold Ford-Kenya elections

Moses Wetang'ula, Ford-Kenya leader, at the party's headquarters in Nairobi on October 4, 2016. 

What you need to know:

  • A serious presidential candidate begins by successfully building his party countrywide using its grassroots network.

  • Some of us are pushing for party elections.

Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula may have pronounced his intention to contest the presidency in next year’s General Election, but many things are wrong in his Ford Kenya party.

When Mr Wetang’ula took over Ford-K from the lacklustre Mr Musikari Kombo in 2011, the party’s rank and file had great expectations. But today, the hope that members had is waning.

Wetang’ula’s leadership style and general approach to party issues has contributed to the steep decline in the fortunes of the once coveted and influential party.

Ford-K held its grassroots elections in 2011. Its constitution clearly stipulates that elections be held every four years. Our party elections, both grassroots and national, were supposed to have been held last year. But there is strange resistance to the holding of elections by Mr Wetang’ula and his allies.

As things stand now, the senator and all party officials are in office illegally. The Political Parties Act and Article 91 of the Constitution demands that parties hold regular, free and fair elections as stated in their constitutions.

If Ford-K does not hold elections by the time Kenya goes to the polls, a party member could go to court to seek a declaration that there is no legally elected leader and secretary general to sign the nomination certificates for candidates.

SIMPLISTIC REASONS

The reasons being peddled by the leadership that there are no funds or that elections will divide the party are too simplistic to be embraced.

Mr Wetang’ula is losing support within the party because of failure to heed to demands by party membership that elections be held. If elections are not held, the party risks losing both members and candidates for various political offices for fear of being rigged out by appointed officials.

The party leadership has sidelined members and officials from Rift Valley, Coast, upper and lower Eastern, Central, North Eastern, Nyanza, Kisii, and some counties in the western region. Yet these people are in Ford-K by right and have constitutional freedom to participate in the affairs of the party.

Key organs of the party no longer hold sessions. According to the Ford-K constitution, the party’s National Delegates’ Congress (NDC) is supposed to be convened after every two years. It is the highest decision-making body of the party. The General Council is supposed to meet annually while the NEC is supposed to meet quarterly.

These timelines and schedules have not been observed by the leadership. The NDC is the only body that nominates Ford-K presidential candidates, yet it has never met.

COMMITTEE MET

The party management committee, a small administrative organ, met last month after a long time. However, strangers not recognised by the party constitution attended. Some of them are mere aspirants who joined the party recently, making any decision it made null and void. The committee even purported to have powers to elect individuals like Dr Boni Khalwale to the NEC. Only the GC and NDC can elect members of the NEC.

Ford-K is fast fading under Mr Wetang’ula’s watch. Deputy leader Khatib Mwashetaini and chairman John Munyes have left. Ford-K MPs in Nyanza and Turkana have also quit. So where is Wetang’ula going with his presidential ambitions?

You cannot be president if you cannot even manage your own party or listen to your own members. A serious presidential candidate begins by successfully building his party countrywide using its grassroots network.

It is in the interest of Mr Wetang’ula and the party that elections are held. That is why some of us are pushing for party elections.

 

Ken Wafula is a human rights campaigner and member of Ford-Kenya.