Why party leaders hold yam and knife in tickets scramble

 

Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru, Governor Anne Waiguru, Woman Rep Wangui Ngirici and other leaders dash to receive Deputy President William Ruto in Mwea on April 6, 2018. [File, Standard]

Moraa has been made to believe that she has capacity to choose leaders. She goes to the voting booth with the illusion that she is going to exercise her agency.

In reality, she will be merely endorsing a largely boardroom decision save for an election with Independent candidates.

Her capacity to choose leaders has been taken over by party leaders. Party leaders have cemented this position in party constitutions and in the Political Parties Act. The average voter who has no time for party primaries will vote six piece or as advised by coalition or party leaders.

Party nominations are the mother’s milk for democracy. Party nominations are supposed to identify quality candidates who appreciate Kenya’s national and public interests besides demonstrating capacity to join the dots.

Party nominations raison d’être is to present candidates who will proactively fight for political and economic stability while dismantling impunity, mediocrity and corruption cartels.

Kenya has over 84 political parties with a combined membership of about 20M members. Most party members hardly participate in party nominations. But a good number will participate in general elections.

In most part, party leaders have a blank cheque to directly or indirectly elect and select members who are presented during the general elections. The Political Parties Act list two methods of identifying candidates for the general elections. The first method is the direct party nomination where all registered party member elect candidates and the indirect party nomination where delegates drawn from registered members select candidates.

Most candidates dread the direct nomination process. That is why you will see candidates jumping from party to party. Kirinyaga Women Rep Wangui Ngirichi has had to review her options after Governor Anne Waiguru declared her interest in defending her seat on a UDA ticket.

Ngirichi suspects that party primaries will not be fair nor credible despite being an early UDA supporter. She seems to have embraced the Independent candidate path.

Direct nominations are riddled with altercations and guerrilla manoeuvres that most of the time always result in anything but free and fair elections. They hardly pay attention to Chapter Six and Article 10 when sieving aspirants.

Most parties face almost insurmountable challenges when conducting primaries. That is why you will have aspirants crying foul. Most will pitch tent outside party offices, seek party leaders spouses interventions or even threaten to defect.

Jubilee Party successfully bundled up her 2017 elections by underestimating turnout. Deputy party leader William Ruto had to take charge during the repeat party primaries to restore sanity. Winning Jubilee primaries in parts of Central Kenya and Rift Valley was as good as winning the elections.

To increase probability of success, aspirants will almost always register their supporters as party members. While hope is not a strategy, they hope that the supporters will turn out during party primaries. Supporters reap big. They are given all manner of allowances and incentives as a strategy to attract and retain their loyalty.

The indirect method of nomination creates an environment for high octane sycophancy and insider trading. That is why aspirants will go to the top of Mt Kenya or the middle of Lake Victoria to pledge their loyalty to party leaders.

Party leaders have a high appetite for members who have made financial contribution or possess special talents that the party may need to deploy. Proximity to party leaders is an added advantage.

Delegates will select such aspirants upon advise from party leaders via the indirect party nomination process. Delegates are happy to dance to the Party leader’s drum beats. Parties however suggest that delegates decisions are informed by data and aspirants consensus.

It is not unusual to sweat data to give a predetermined outcome. It is also not unusual to force consensus. It is also not unusual for delegates to sneak in names of family and friends.

Indirect nominations can easily demotivate party rank and file but make selected members happy. In contrast, the direct nomination process avoids internal conflict and improves candidate quality.

As it were, party leaders have the yam and the knife. Their word is law. Whichever method they favor; they must identify and nominate quality candidates for endorsement. Presentation of quality candidates is sine qua non for Kenya’s political and economic stability. 

• The writer is a political risk analyst