Many political parties useless for Kenya’s democracy and growth, Mudavadi warns

By BENSON KILONZI.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is firing a warning shot against the establishment of many tribal-based political parties, arguing that the formation poses an inherent danger to Kenya’s much envied stability.

The former Vice-president argues that the unity that the founding fathers of the Nation fought for through blood and limb is currently under threat and matters could get out of hand if not nipped in the bud.

Mudavadi states that though multi-party democracy is a constitutional guarantee that must fully be embraced, this is being abused as every tribe in Kenya wants to have a party of its own as a political shield.

In an interview from Brazil where he is on official duty, Mudavadi noted the crusade to create many political parties in Kenya is a move that works against the desired democratic practices, good governance, political stability and national development.

Said he: “We started off well in the early 1990s when we abandoned the one-party State political system and adopted the multi-party one. But we have since lost our way.

“Today, every village in Kenya wants a party the people there can call their own. We now have almost 100 political parties. More are still being formed. We could have double that number by the time of the next election in 2027.

“Yet all of them are being formed for mere feel-good factors. Nothing to do with governance and strengthening democracy. The leaderships of these parties are going to use them to hold members of their ethnic groups at ransom to bargain for their personal interests at national level. We are closing back the gains we had made since 1991 when we dumped the single-party political system.”

Mudavadi who is also the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs observed that Kenyans need to reflect on their politics and come up with a more unifying approach that promotes the country’s development agenda and political interests through few ideology-driven parties instead of regional outfits engineered by ethnicity. 

Impeached immediate former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua launched his new political party, the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) in Nairobi on Thursday. 

In March this year, two of Mudavadi’s former allies – publisher Dr. Barrack Okwato Muluka and politician Godfrey Kanoti – launched an Opposition party, the United Summit Party (USP); which Mudavadi has strongly distanced himself from.

Elsewhere , former Bahati MP Onesmus Kimani Ngunjiri inaugurated his The Future Party a fortnight ago. Five other parties are understood to be pending for registration and could be launched before the end of this year.

However, while Mudavadi does not fault the constitutional right to form political parties, he takes issue with the manner in which emerging tribal supremos are scrambling to form their own outfits.

“Were we not in this country in 2007 and 2008? Don’t we know what tribal politics can do to a country? It is painful to see people dashing to create political parties as if we never learnt anything from the 2007/8 experience. We need a lot of soul-searching,” Mudavadi argues.

Mudavadi who first joined the Cabinet in 1989 at the age of 29 years was until September 2022 the Party Leader of the Amani National Congress (ANC).

He quit the position when he joined the Cabinet after the August 2022 General Election to comply with constitutional requirements after his Kenya Kwanza Alliance spearheaded by Ruto emerged victorious in the presidential poll.

However, ANC has since wound up and merged with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Party (UDA) early this year.

Mudavadi now argues that the constitutional provision in Kenya to form many political parties had been grossly abused and is being applied to undermine democracy and national unity in Kenya.

“On deep reflection, we have to admit that this experiment has failed us. It has not worked for three decades. We have to take a fresh look in the manner that we manage our politics. As of now, we are not on the right path with these many parties scattered in every Kenyan village. It is going to be costly and disastrous in future,” he notes.

Mudavadi argues that contrary to popular opinion the decision by his ANC and Ruto’s UDA to merge last January, is a deliberate move in the right direction and which should be encouraged and emulated by the leaderships of other political parties. 

Mudavadi claims that the coming together of the two outfits is a foundation for Kenya’s future stability, national unity and co-existence, a delicate leap that needs to be promoted within Kenya’s political landscape..

“We must bite the bullet. We have to to agree that we are on the wrong trajectory and resolve to change our politics. We have to make sacrifices. We should stop pretending that all is well.

“We are driving with an experiment that has not worked for us. We have to reduce the number of political parties in Kenya and get a way for addressing our interests from a national perspective and not from our narrow ethnic enclaves. We must deliberately create an environment where everyone, regardless of their tribe, age, gender, race or religion, feels a sense of belonging, wanted and useful.

“We must shun and fight off any political attempt to divide Kenyans into segregated ethnic groups. That form of balkanisation had been overtaken by time,” Mudavadi notes.

He is of the view that the formation of many parties has undermined democracy and promoted negative ethnicity in Kenya, a trend he says denies people from smaller communities to ride to the country’s top leadership.

Most of the political parties in Kenya at the moment are mere tribal entities without a sound vision for the country or development agenda beyond their native turfs.

He said the coming together of ANC and UDA at the famous ‘Earthquake’ of January 2022 at the Bomas of Kenya had very specific objectives that apart from the immediate target of winning the election, it focussed on rebuilding the economy, restoring peace by uniting the country and dismantling ethnic divisions. 

“We are on course to achieving most of those objectives. Unfortunately our friends in the Opposition want to drag the country back into the politics of tribalism. Unlike in 2022 when the election debate was issue based and centred on the economy, our Opposition chiefs are framing tribalism as the main point of debate in the 2027 election. It is very clear that ethnicity is their main agenda,” he states.

He insists that time has come for the political landscape in Kenya to be presided over by a few strong political parties founded on ideology, principles and policies as opposed to the current situation he perceived as “retrogressive amalgamation o narrow-minded ethnicity-driven regional outfits.”

Mudavadi argues that presently global politics and economies are effectively formulated courtesy of democratic, regional and continental economic blocs and therefore formation of tribal-based political parties in any part of the world today is a negative  step that works against the demands of the 21st century and the global future.

Before arriving in Brazil, Mudavadi had been in the Dominican Republic in Central America for three days on another official visit. 

While there, he signed a security and medical evacuation memorandum of understanding allowing Kenya direct access to wounded personnel participating in the peace mission in neighbouring Haiti. 

In Brazil, South America’s largest economy, Mudavadi will be pushing for trade agreements between Kenya and the populous South American nation.