Blogger Robert Alai has time and again labeled the CORD 2013 presidential candidate as a political businessman. A closer look at all opposition luminaries reveals a disturbing trait.

They use election years as harvest periods. They will jealously guard their political parties, not because of any democratic ideals or service to the people but as dealerships with which they solicit millions of shillings from desperate aspirants and presidential candidates seeking their support.

To shore up my argument, none of the opposition parties has made any credible effort to instill democratic leadership.
 They are all run like personal property with the party leaders assuming godfather status. Their word is final.

Dissent is not allowed and is punishable by excommunication. Fresh on my mind is the Kasarani fiasco where an attempted coup by young leaders to take over the Orange Democratic Party was met with brutal force meted out by the infamous ‘men in black’.

Calls to open up the other opposition parties have been met with deaf ears.Wiper Party has, for instance, remained a tribal affair with the leader Kalonzo Musyoka deceitfully fronting it as a progressive movement.

 Just like Raila he has been known to quell dissent with underhand tactics including blackmail, coercion, and propaganda.

With this background, we fully understand why CORD is opposed to Jubilee’s request for the IEBC to conduct jubilee party primaries.

One would be quite ignorant to buy the reasons the opposition is putting forth including- lack of time, resources, personnel and finally all other parties may follow suit making it a costly affair.

Actually, the true reason why the opposition is scared is that their followers may demand a transparent exercise under the IEBC which will deny the party owners much-anticipated hundreds of millions paid in by aspirants wishing to gain favors.

A transparent nomination under IEBC will allow the people have their say on the choice of candidates.

This again may also weaken the hold the opposition leaders have.It may also challenge their status.

Jubilee’s intention to use IEBC for its primaries is in all ways ‘un African’. African leaders are known to weaken institutions and policies to eliminate any other source of command.

President Uhuru’s move is largely viewed as a counter to the looming mass defection across the country.

 Unlike his erstwhile rivals, Uhuru is widely viewed as incorruptible and has no wish to milk bribes from aspirants seeking his favor.
IEBC should carry out all party primaries to test its preparedness, entrench transparency and encourage fairness.

It will also defuse the heightened tension which sometimes breaks out into violence. By denying the political businessmen an opportunity to exploit Kenyans, many ‘poor’ aspirants will stand a fair chance of being elected to serve their people.

President Uhuru’s move may be termed naïve but considering this will be his last term if elected, he appears bent on establishing a legacy of fairness and equity.

For those who claim that the government may not have money for these primaries, I remind them that democracy is expensive.

The lack of democracy is not a cheaper option. Already in the new constitution we expanded our parliament, increased the number of vulnerable group representation in government, devolved government, and resources and expanded the capacity of citizen participatory freedoms.

Considering that elections are the gateway to public leadership, we thus are required to invest heavily in the procedures and processes of elections. An army that has never fought cannot be said to be ready.