Our political parties don't promote internal democracy. That's a fact.
See the manner in which Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has been kicked out as the chairman of the Budget and Appropriations committee? See the way Makadara MP George Aladwa is after ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna calling him a sympathiser of Rigathi Gachagua? When is expressing one's opinion on an issue one's democratic right and when is it dissent?
In that sense then, our political parties are more of personality cults than being places of real debate. Places where ideological thought and opinion is fostered.
True, what we think of parties are but amalgamations or coalitions of various factions. And this is not a problem that is unique to Kenya alone.
Even in America, ever since the advent of Donald Trump, the Republican Party has had a three way split. The orthodox Trumpists; those would take a bullet for Donald Trump any day; the hybrid Republicans, those who have accepted the reign of Donald Trump within the Republican Party but want him to round off his rough edges and mute his low vibrational energy; and the establishment RINO Republicans, Republican in Name Only who will never forgive Donald Trump for taking over their party and turning it into his own personality cult.
Even for the Democrats, it's a push and pull between the various factions of the party. You have the socialist progressives who abhor capitalism and are into culture wars.
For instance, participation of transgender athletes in women sports or transpeople using women bathrooms, and then there are corporate centrists, those who believe capitalism is good for America and should be accommodated.
The progressives are led by the SQUAD, that trio of Alexandria Occasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and the likes, while the corporate centrists are more mainstream.
An avowed socialist such as Bernie Sanders was prevented from getting the ticket of the party in 2016 and 2020 nomination leading him to say a party that has abandoned the working class should not expect to win elections.
But more poignantly, the last three Democrat Presidents have all been corporate centrists; Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, leading to democracy watchers to say the Democrat Party of today has shifted so much to the right in economic terms that it is the Republican Party of the 1970s.
Back to Kenyan parties, let's develop a culture where first of all, it's not a tribal identity that defines our politics. UDA was largely a Rift Valley and Mount Kenya Party.
Now that Rigathi Gachagua has left, it's now a Rift Valley party. I would have hoped that UDA would have been a bottom up economic model party, but that was just a flowery language to mask its ethnic dimensions. The fact of the matter is now Mount Kenya is partyless and now it is looking at forming a new party. If we had parties that had been based on ideology, the parties wouldn't fold up after every election cycle.
And now to the internal democracy within ODM, if you disagree with "Baba", then you are out of the party. Yes, I know you need strong individuals to build a party, but they shouldn't be overbearing. Right now, Raila is ODM, and ODM is Raila. That's a bad thing for the continuity and strength of a party. You should be able to disagree with Raila and still be a member of ODM. But numerous people tried and failed.
James Orengo tried to vie for Presidency in 2002 but he came back quietly to the party after realizing he was not up to scratch with Raila. Prof. Anyang Nyongo too had a dalliance with the Social Democratic Party but soon folded it up and knew there was only one kingpin in the region, Raila Odinga. That calls for more alternative voices within ODM and UDA.
Our parties will remain minnows if we continue to shun internal democracy. Dictatorship within our parties is rife and that's why when the leader of the party says let's go this way, we all follow him without questioning.
As a prerequisite, the registrar of political parties must mandate parties to have membership in at least half of the counties, and not just face value membership but deep grassroots presence. These briefcase parties will not take us anywhere. We need parties anchored on revolution. Anchored on sound ideology. Anchored on sound fundamentals.
If you are a left of center party that favours socialism, show us in word and deed through your members belief and actions. Address inequality. Enact free education. Enact free healthcare. If you are a right of center party anchored on capitalism, show us how the business community will bring us prosperity.
We cannot be prostituting parties and then hoping that these are the outfits that will take Kenya to prosperity. That can't happen with the present parties we have.
This is a challenge I'm throwing at the two leaders of the largest political parties in the country. President Ruto and Raila. No one has set a precedent of ideological anchored parties in the country. But you need to do so.
Internal democracy within UDA and ODM must be enhanced so people like Babu Owino and Ndindi Nyoro can speak up. If you cannot manage disagreements in your party, how can you manage disagreements in the country?
