Parties should show more from taxes

To say Kenya's democracy is not flourishing is an understatement. In fact, it has stagnated. And here's why: Parties, a key ingredient, have remained the bane of our democracy.

Ideally, political parties enhance democracy, not stymie it. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. When the Political Parties Act 2011 (that authorised the Exchequer to fund political parties was passed) the assumption was that this would reinforce the democratic culture that was taking shape in the country by discouraging briefcase parties and ensuring that parties stopped being properties of cartels that auctioned party nominations to the highest bidder. Most importantly, it was hoped that it would draw out the swamp of tribal, sectarian parties formed at the convenience of politicians.

Alas, that has not happened. Nearly five years later, with at least Sh3 billion invested in parties, it is easy to conclude that the biggest casualty has been democracy. Most of them, if not all, are formed around personalities, tribe and regions; parties that divide rather than unite the country. Politicians still use them as vehicles for self-promotion and self-preservation.

The reintroduction of a multi-party system in 1991 should have seen parties becoming avenues for debating alternative national agenda. Instead, most peddle a partisan agenda.

Admittedly, nearly 25 years and five electoral cycles later, Kenyan parties are in dire need of a dose of democracy and ideology. Most of them are devoid of ideas and hardly advance the common good. They are generally a one-man show where dictatorship is rife. The reforms envisioned in the Political Parties Act have not gone deep enough to ensure that democracy flourishes. Good, progressive parties are the ingredients of mature democracies.

Ideally, those funds should be used to mobilise grassroots support and engage in civic education on policy. In practice, that doesn't happen. It is time the taxpayer got a return on investment.