Why Kenya is becoming a political governance model for continental peers

President William Ruto arrives in Arusha, Tanzania, for the 24th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State. He is accompanied by Tanzania 's Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs Professor Palamagamba Kabudi.[File,Standard]

Kenya has been acknowledged world over for having a progressive Constitution that guarantees unfettered rights and fundamental freedoms to its citizens. The Constitution in virtually all its 17 chapters is punctuated with obligations required of public entities and leadership.

Chapter 6 of the Constitution on leadership and integrity gives impetus to other chapters pertaining to the manner in which leaders and public entities must safeguard the honour and dignity of the people while governing them and in their service to the people. They are required to uphold accountability, transparency, exclusivity, integrity and a host of other principles of good governance while demonstrating respect to the people they serve in trust. Various government institutions have a share of constitutional obligations on promoting good governance in all their undertakings.

In the electoral and governance space, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) and a number of public entities of Governance, Justice, Law and Order sector, there are strides worth mentioning and celebrating. In the last year, including October and November, 2024, ORPP played host to various international country delegations on a study on political parties registration, regulation and funding.

The ORPP, with support of stakeholders, has so far engaged with peer learning countries like Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, among others. Most of these countries have made Kenya a study destination on political parties management and governance. Key areas of interest to the delegations have been registration and regulation of political parties, including the existing legislative framework stemming from constitutional provisions such as in Articles 91 and 92.

The other matter of interest has been to gain insights on the ICT systems, for instance, the Integrated Political Parties Management System that ORPP has developed to maintain and safeguard huge data and records of over 90 registered political parties in compliance with ‘one person, one party’ as well as data protection measures. Other key milestones are its deliberate and facilitative  approach in promoting positive contribution of political parties in their role to put forth candidates for elections, promote inclusion and representation of the people, influencing and shaping public policy, and agitating for appropriate change among purposes outlined in the Political Parties Act and consequential regulations.

Out of these engagements, progressive thoughts and learning have been crystallized and mooted to commence a common and united Africa for the good of the people. Such initiatives pertain to; joint training of parties, staff and partners, creating common information resources and systems, cross-expert exchanges, infrastructure co-sharing, among others, at varied stages of conceptualisation. The effort aims to spur and reclaim the continental lead in institutionalising political parties and entrenching sound and trustworthy electoral and governance systems.

It would therefore be logical to marshal efforts with respective institutional mandates and professional circles and build on these gains . It is the hope that we shall also redouble our collective efforts in undertaking political and civic education to citizens to fully appreciate the country’s democratic struggle and journey.

The democratic progress adds to other realms of positioning Kenya as a sovereign state that truly acknowledges good governance, observance of human rights including political rights that had dividends to the citizens.

The writer is the Registrar of Political Parties