Formation of JAP short-sighted and could hurt Uhuru’s administration

I don’t know who came up with the idea of the Jubilee Alliance Party. Nor do I know why anyone would dream up “JAP.” Methinks TNA honcho Uhuru Kenyatta and URP boss William Ruto should lasso the aides who came up with that “smart” idea. My crystal ball tells me JAP will never catch fire. It’s nonsense on stilts — it will take two steps and then collapse into a heap.

The old saying should have been instructive here — don’t fix it if it ain’t broke. That is the first rule of politics. That’s because you may just break it while fixing it. In JAP’s case — and you can take this to the bank — new is bad. It’s a recipe for disaster.

I have five unarguable reasons why JAP will come crashing down to earth. First, the ruling coalition didn’t articulate any reason — compelling or otherwise — why it ditched Jubilee. It’s an idea devoid of reason, logic, or philosophy. There’s no ideological shift from Jubilee to JAP.

Nor is there a demographic basis for the change. There’s nary a reason to believe JAP would attract more voters than those in Jubilee’s two basic baskets — the Rift Valley and the Mount Kenya region. In fact, JAP may be subtraction by addition. It may alienate some who were already within Jubilee. Political parties aren’t like shirts or underwear — you don’t change them every day without reason. Don’t hide the reason if there’s one.

Second, it’s too soon for Jubilee to be given a divorce. Jubilee is hardly three years old. A divorce this early suggests irreconcilable differences in the marriage. It’s an admission that the union wasn’t made in heaven, and was doomed to fail from the get-go. To wit, it’s a statement of calamity.

A change this soon is evidence that Jubilee wasn’t well thought out — that it was a rushed tawdry affair. Which begs the question — if Jubilee was a “quickie,” how can Kenyans be confident that its election promises and programmes aren’t haphazard? Was the party quickly slapped together to win an election with an agenda to govern? If so, is JAP a victim of the same poverty of philosophy?

Third, actual and serious political parties are preceded by serious deliberations and widespread consultations among key stakeholders. The idea is then popularised among the voting public to create lift-off and buy-in. JAP didn’t do any of that — the party was sprung on Jubilee stalwarts and the party faithful as an ambush. URP’s William Ruto has been told to his face by his key supporters that JAP was a late-night surprise trap — a waylaying.

That’s why a rebellion against JAP has been brewing among his Maasai and Kalenjin supporters. JAP has widened the schism between Mr Ruto and Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto. Some key URP allies believe JAP is a trick on Mr Ruto by TNA. Suspicion is choking JAP in the crib.

Fourth, whoever thought of JAP has no sense of history. It shows the party lacks serious intellectuals and historians. Otherwise, no one in their right mind would use JAP as a party acronym. “Jap” is a well-known racial slur and epithet. It’s a derogatory term used to describe people of Japanese ancestry. I would think it would make TNA leaders, like Mr Kenyatta when he recently visited Japan, uncomfortable saying that he belongs to JAP.

 

I saw a dimwitted retort on social media disputing that JAP was a problem. The commenter inexplicably reasoned that JAP wasn’t a problem because Kenyans aren’t Japanese. My heart sunk in disbelief. Would anyone in Kenya dare give a party the acronym NIGGER?

Fifth, the formation of JAP confirms to Kenyans our politicians aren’t serious. This isn’t a small matter. Just look at other countries, including many in Africa, with longstanding political parties. Parties are supposed to stand for, and symbolise, something. A party isn’t just an empty vessel, like a pit latrine, that must accept whatever is put in it.

Tanzania, our neighbour to the south, has Chama Cha Mapinduzi. CCM is one of the most storied political parties in our era. South Africa has the African National Congress. What does Kenya have but briefcase parties that ethnic barons carry from night meeting to night meeting? I wouldn’t be surprised that JAP was probably conceived in a secret night meeting.

I end where I started. JAP had an inauspicious beginning in the Kajiado Central by-election. JAP’s key leaders camped there to campaign for JAP candidate Patrick Tutui. So did the side opposite as ODM’s Elijah Memusi got royal treatment from party barons.

Mr Kenyatta pulled out all stops, including handing out goodies. But JAP suffered a humiliating defeat in its first major test. JAP may still win the Kabete seat. But my bet is that JAP will die before it’s born.