Why party hopping can only die with a strong democracy

ByCharles Kanjama

In April 1966, 27 Kanu MPs decided to abandon Kanu and form an opposition party. They were preceded a week earlier by Oginga Odinga, who resigned from Kanu and as vice-president of Kenya. In his autobiography, Not Yet Uhuru, Odinga narrates the sordid tale of abuse of Kanu’s internal democracy that led to the infamous 1966 Limuru Conference and eventually triggered his resignation.