Stop whining and join a political party if unhappy with our politics

By Angela Ambitho

Are you a member of any political party? Probably not! Do you support or feel close to any political party? Probably yes or somewhat! What are your reasons for supporting this political party or coalition? Could it be their appealing manifesto and political ideology? Absolutely not! Could it be the personalities or luminaries that drive the party? Absolutely!

Are you currently satisfied with the state of affairs in the country? Do you discuss politicians and politics with your family, friends and acquaintances often criticising their utterances and deeds? Do you wish things could be done differently? Do you remotely offer numerous solutions and remedies to current state of affairs? If the answer to second set of questions is yes and you aren’t a member of any political party, its time you stopped whining, shopped around for a political party, joined it and started making a difference from within!

Over the years, Infotrak polls have asked respondents two critical questions concerning party membership and affiliation. Whilst majority of respondents claim close affiliation to one political party or the other, less than 5 per cent claim to be active members of any political party. For many, especially in the middle class, political party membership is a far removed concept perceived to be the responsibility of other people; never themselves. Paradoxically, they fail to understand that the “the only way to make meaningful change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance”

Whilst political party membership has always been significantly low in Kenya, it’s imperative to note the marked reduction in political party membership even globally. In the UK for instance, the Conservative and Labour parties boasted of upto 3 million and 1million members respectively in the 1950s. Today, only 1.1 per cent of the electorate are members of a political party with Labour having over 190,000 members, Conservatives about 150,000 members and the Liberal Democrats 49,000 members. 

They suffer from the same malaise that we do where many hold extremely strong views about how they should be governed yet fail to join political parties to facilitate their influence from within.

The fact that very few Kenyans join political parties means that those who do join, can easily enjoy immense power and influence irrespective of their level of participation. However, the more active they become, the greater their influence over leadership and issues is. And whilst the pessimist may argue that political parties in Kenya are nothing but one man shows created to win elections, the optimist would want to work with what exists, examining the party ideology, no matter how fragile and determining how to reinforce it internally, no matter how arduous.

Now that you are either enthused or amused, shall we look at some facts? There are currently about fifty two registered political parties for you to choose from, many belonging to either the Jubilee or CORD coalition.

 All parties embody specific political ideologies. You must ask yourself what ideology resonates with you and the country. Are you inclined to communism, socialism, environmentalism, liberalism, conservatism or libertarianism? If you have no clue, start reading and researching. Certainly start paying more attention to credible opinion polling data. And whether enthused or amused, stop whining, join a political party before the end of the year and create change from within.