Broad-based government highlights the flaws in our multi-party democracy

President William Ruto of UDA and Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga of ODM sing a agreement to work together at KICC. [Photo/Emmanuel Wanson]

Many Kenyans are waking up to find with dismay that a staunch opposition leader has not only joined government but has become its leading cheerleader. Although the President has defended the alliance with opposition figures as a strategy to unite the nation, the spectacle of prominent opposition figures joining a widely discredited government is symptomatic of a flawed multiparty democracy.

Since the repeal of section 2A of the Constitution, party coalitions have become a regular feature of our democracy and recent co-opting of opposition figures to form a broad-based government is not exceptional. The absurdity of our approach to coalitions becomes apparent however when a fierce critic joins government and starts defending its policies like a rabid member of the ruling party.

Such a farce played out in real time when the former chairman of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and now the Treasury Secretary appeared before a Senate committee that included the Secretary General of his party. Watching the heated exchange between the two, it was impossible to tell whether the opposition had joined government or government had joined opposition. The blurring of the divide between government and legislature as well as the confusion over committee make up in both the Senate and Parliament is a symptom of a failed multi-party democracy.

While the Kenya Kwanza administration can be excused for employing all means to shore up its flagging popularity, it is a mystery that an opposition whose duty is to oversight the government can go out of its way to shore up an underperforming administration. Many Kenyans could not understand how opposition, who previously likened Cabinet secretary nominees to skunks, could readily join a government they had lampooned.

The about face was not only a let-down, it fed into widespread belief that our politicians are only driven by self-interest. Moreover, since ODM started siding with the government after Raila was proposed as Kenyan candidate for African Union Commission chairperson, it lent credence to widely held view that our politicians will readily throw citizens under the bus for 30 pieces of silver.

Disappointment with the opposition was heightened further by the fact that abduction of government critics continued unabated even after opposition leaders joined the administration. For a nation angered by abduction of young Kenyans, attempts by opposition collaborators to rationalise human right abuses by the government only accentuated the widespread sense of betrayal.

Given that Kenyan opposition figures are traditionally respected for their historic defence of human rights, dalliance with a government that violates the rights of young citizens has greatly undermined this rich legacy.

Besides the damage to a proud legacy, the ease at which vocal members of the opposition formed an alliance with Kenya Kwanza government has exposed the ideological vacuum in our approach to party coalitions. Although party coalitions are accepted worldwide, alliances are not formed where ideologies are fundamentally diverse.

A communist, for instance, cannot form an alliance of any shape or form with a capitalist party just as conservatives do not enter into alliances with liberals. In our case, however, party alliances are formed out of the political and commercial interests of a tribal kingpins whose ambitions are normally the sole determinants of the fortunes and directions of the party. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find a communist forming a coalition with a capitalist party despite the fact that both are ideologically incompatible. All what matters is that the interests of the tribal kingpins are addressed.

The current attempt at creating a broad-based government is no exception and is a product of the wishes of a president desperately seeking re-election and opposition parties looking for an opportunity to enter government through the back door. The narrative that opposition figures joined government in order to lend its expertise or to unite the nation is sheer unadulterated hot air.

As politicians start gearing up for 2027 election campaigns in earnest, like-minded individuals are starting to aggregate into parties that will compete with the ruling UDA party. According to the Registrar of Political Parties, 220 political parties have already applied for registration such that, if all are approved, Kenya could end up with a record 352 parties. Such mind-boggling applications only happen in a country where registering a political party is driven by transactional rather than ideological concerns.

If Kenyans are to do justice to children that have been abducted and killed for standing up to bad governance, experience shows that they must interrogate the ideological commitments of those asking for their votes. As the current season of handshake shows, our leaders will readily join any coalition for the sake of joining the league of those who ride in National Police Service helicopter.