Referendum: CORD's motives suspect

CORD's recent demands for dialogue with the Jubilee Coalition, which has since morphed into demands for a referendum raises critical questions on the way political opponents of Government should hold it accountable in a new dispensation. There can be no doubt that as an opposition party, CORD must use all the arrows in its quiver not only to keep Government on its toes, but also sustain a profile that enables it to be a credible contestant in the next elections. To meet these twin objectives any opposition, worth its name, will use its parliamentary presence including its chairmanship of critical committees like the Public Accounts Committee to achieve its objects, but will also exploit public political processes it considers necessary to raise its political profile.

However, while using all possible avenues is legitimate, none of the available options can be a substitute for the other. CORD's role as an effective official opposition cannot be delegated to its public activism role, and neither can it achieve all its political objectives solely through the parliamentary process. Anyone who asks CORD to resolve its entire gripe with Jubilee solely through the Parliamentary process is being disingenuous. CORD is not just a parliamentary opposition; it is also a contestant in elections 2017! What one expects, however, is that CORD would use both the parliamentary and public avenues to achieve its goals! What has surprised many watchers of Kenya's political environment is how inept CORD has been on the use of available institutional infrastructure. Even in institutions like the Senate where the tyranny of numbers is not as decimating as that in the National Assembly, one doesn't sense the same energy and vigour by Senators Wetang'ula, Orengo, Muthama, Hassan Omar, Otieno Kajwang, and Professor Anyang Nyongo in pursuing the "official opposition" role that you see in their "political rally activism".

It is interesting to note that even as they attack Jubilee as "killers of devolution", these CORD Senators voted overwhelmingly for the contested allocation of revenue to the counties, which is the greatest measure that one can use to assess support for devolution. When Governors were under attack by the Senate, which in the early stages of devolution is one of the ways in which the process is weakened, one did not sense that CORD senators were any different in approach to Jubilee.

One can forgive former PM Raila Odinga for pushing CORD's agenda exclusively outside the House, since he is not a parliamentarian, what is to be said for these gentlemen's seeming inertia in the House? Even in the National Assembly the tyranny of numbers does not render CORD impotent. Opportunities abound for pursuing a structured approach to cross party opposition to some of Jubilee's foibles.

There are numerous low hanging fruits in this respect, including several questionable procurement processes. Even here, the assault has been led more by the internal opposition within Jubilee than by CORD. The problem with this seeming disconnect between CORD's public presentation of its grouse with Jubilee and its relative inactivity in the parliamentary process is that it dilutes the party's credibility as a party that is pursuing the public good as opposed to a pure search for power.

The search for power is of course legitimate. It is the late Masinde Muliro who used to say that those with no ambition should avoid politics. But when an opposition's party's agenda is framed solely as raw desire for power, it breeds skepticism for the party. It then keeps the party locked to its traditional voting block where it has an inelastic support. It becomes impossible for the party to marshal fresh support from those disgruntled with Jubilee and therefore runs the risk of maintaining the same numbers that lost it the last election.

There can be no doubt that Kenya's governance environment is enriched by a strong and credible opposition. Jubilee, like all governments, will abuse power if left unchecked. But if the approach of the opposition remains continued calls for civic action whilst leaving legitimate and available options for checking government unexploited, the resulting loss of credibility for CORD will not just hurt the party's fortunes, it will grossly stifle our young democracy.