Leaders have a right to switch parties

Change of party allegiance within one’s tenure of an elective office cannot be criminalised. In a competitive political environment synonymous with our dynamic politics, it can only be respect and acknowledgement of an elected leader’s democratic right to assess whether his interests and that of his/her constituency are catered for in the outfit that propelled him/ her to the seat.

Factors that determine satisfaction of an elected leader’s in the party whose ticket one used to enter Parliament can drastically change even within one year in office. It would demonstrate a draconian tendency if a party was to wield so much power as to cause loss of an elective seat simply because a Member of Parliament has publicly voiced an opinion contrary to the party leader’s, now that our parties are ruled by those who form them.

The Justice and Legal affairs committee has proposed amendments to the Political Parties Act to allow change of allegiance to one’s political party, vilified in our political discourse as ‘party hopping’. The committee has directed the Registrar of Political Parties to raise the amendments.

I support amendments that would protect a member’s political opinion, which is normally guided by the need to change gears in an impending election.

Elected leaders cannot be held hostage by party shenanigans or owners of the party especially if they introduce aspects of discrimination or favouritism against a sitting member. The belaboured argument that elected members display dishonesty by turning their backs on the party that sent them to office is not always true. In numerous cases, such dissenting individuals have invested heavily, both intellectually, financially and time-wise, to build such outfits.

In such a case, therefore, a member so mistreated or ignored by party mandarins after elections has a right to craft an exit strategy in the next polls.

‘Party hopping’ is a phrase used to demonise the shifting of allegiance, all calculated to drive home the point that politicians are an unreliable lot who cannot even stick to a party from whose benefits they are enjoying.

For those of us in the opposition, the line is thin between change of allegiance to a party and the mere establishment of a cordial working relationship with the ruling coalition. As a representative at national level, it can only make sense if I develop a political relationship with the government instead of yapping all year round about why things are not happening in my constituency.

Personally, I have taken a stand that I will not be supporting the Opposition in 2017 the way I did in 2013. For me, it is a delicate balancing act to remain in a political party that cannot push a development agenda for my people. Elected leaders must be allowed to express freely their views whether they are agreeable to the party’s stand or not.