Urgent reforms needed in management of political parties
David Musila in Ukasi in Mwingi Central, Kitui on February 3, 2017 when he was the chairman of the Wiper Democratic Movement - Kenya. PHOTO | THOMAS WAITA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
There is a need for urgent reforms in the management of the political parties.
Reforms should focus on making political parties efficient and accountable vehicles for political mobilisation.
As membership organisations, political parties should offer value for its members.
The framers of the Constitution made a provision in Article 85 for any person to stand as an independent candidate for elections. To qualify, the individual should not be a member of a registered party. In the event the person belonged to a party, they should have ceased being members at least three months immediately before the date of the General Election. The provision for independent candidates has captured the attention and imagination of Kenyans. Political competition can be vicious; it is based on the winner-takes-it-all principle. Political parties are known for not conducting free and fair party primaries.
Let us situate the debate. Two issues stand out in the preamble to the Constitution. First is the bold reference to “We the people of Kenya,” which underscores the centrality of the role of people of Kenya in managing and controlling their politics. The second element is the fact that Kenyans are committed to nurturing and protecting the well-being of the individual, the family, communities, and the nation. It is the ultimate responsibility of Kenyans to exercise their sovereign and inalienable right to determine the form of governance for the country.
KEY CHALLENGES
To date, we continue to debate and, quite often, seek the courts’ interpretation of the Constitution for various reasons. However, the coming 2017 General Election has brought out key constitutional challenges. First, we witnessed litigation on the question of the date of the elections, which was a subject of the Supreme Court interpretation. The matter has since been settled. Then we had litigation on the constitutional principle of “not more than two-thirds gender rule in all including elective posts.” The subject of the gender rule remains active in the Judiciary, the Executive, the Legislature and civil society. The clamour for its full implementation continues, based on unyielding provisions in the Constitution.
The political party primaries are now over. The flood of complaints and appeals make it is safe to suggest that we do not seem to have learned anything from the past. The primaries processes were riddled with anomalies. The biggest defect is allowing non-members to nominate party candidates. The framers of the Constitution must have been scratching their heads as they watched the party primaries. In the same vein, constitutional lawyers and the public have been astounded by the high number of the independent candidates.
A DISSATISFACTION
The rise in the numbers of independent candidates is driven by dissatisfaction with the manner in which their parties conducted nominations. For illustration, we take the extreme of David Musila, the outgoing Kitui Senator and a hitherto diehard supporter of the Wiper leader. For as long as the Wiper has been in existence, Mr Musila has been its face as the chairman. However, between the party primaries and May 2, 2017, Senator Musila is now an independent candidate. He received a letter from the Registrar of Political Parties which stated: “According to records held by this office, Sen David Musila ID No 0254665 is not a member of a fully registered political party as at 2nd May 2017.” With this political lifeline, he is going to be on the ballot papers for the Kitui governorship in August. The irony remains: as chairman of Wiper, and having agreed to participate in the party primaries, the honourable thing for Senator Musila would have been to concede defeat. Rather than resign and go independent, he should have been at the forefront, to offer his party candidate the party infrastructure for his campaigns.
Like the rest of the Chapter 15 commissions, the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission has a constitutional role in protecting the sovereignty of the people, secure the observance by all state organs of democratic values and principles and promote constitutionalism. The political parties and the independent candidates, have to comply with the code of conduct.
There is a need for urgent reforms in the management of the political parties. Such reforms should focus on making political parties efficient and accountable vehicles for political mobilisation. As membership organisations, political parties should offer value for its members.
The writer is an advocate of the High Court.
