Party hopping has its origins in the early 1990s

By KENNETH KWAMA

Doubts on whether the ruling coalition, Jubilee, will hold together until the next elections have surfaced following open defiance by some of its stalwarts who appear to be causing a rebellion from within.

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen – both Jubilee members– have been the face of a spirited campaign to force the Government to allow for what they have termed as ‘true devolution.’

 Unlike the early 1990s when defections were common, especially when politicians disagreed with their party’s position on some issues, Ruto and Murkomen may not be in a hurry to walk out of Jubilee due the political uncertainty into which such a move may throw their careers.

Defections became a fad after the 1992 elections with opposition MPs crossing over to the then ruling party, Kanu, in their numbers.

On August 9, 1993, The Standard carried a story on the front page titled: ‘Another MP deserts Matiba’ in which it reported that then Ford-Asili MP for Hamisi Nicodemas Khaniri and a councilor had defected to Kanu.

National outlook

 “In a statement issued in Kakamega, Mr Khaniri and Mr Indodi, representing Banja Ward in Hamisi, said Kanu was the only party with a national outlook representing the interests of the majority,” reported the paper.

 Until the advent of multi-party system in Kenya in the early 1990s, the country only had one party – Kanu. The party continued to dominate local politics long after 1991 when President Daniel Moi was forced to repeal Section 2A of the Constitution, to pave way for multiparty politics.

 Currently, Jubilee commands a comfortable majority in both the Senate and Parliament, and control the poltical agenda.  This, however, was not the case for Kanu after the 1992 elections, as the party needed extra numbers to push through some of its plans. As a result, the period after the hotly-contested election saw a number of opposition MPs cross over to Kanu, with President Moi being accused of engineering the defections.

The Matiba-led Ford-Asili and Oginga Odinga’s Ford-Kenya were the biggest casualties of the defections.

At that time, it was common practice for the defector to be given a direct nomination to contest in the by-election by the party they had defected to. Khaniri was, therefore, confident Kanu would do the same and immediately started hunting for votes among those who had voted for him while he was still in the opposition. He of course went on to win the seat.

 Perhaps it is still too early to speculate whether there will be any defections, but the Bomet Governor has given early hints of the turmoil the coalitions are likely to face.