Parties’ shambolic primaries soiling our democracy profile

While the General Election set for August 8, in many areas the polls will be decided in the next three weeks, when parties hold their primaries.

Indeed for a select few in ODM, the corking of champagne bottles commenced this week with the issuance of the direct nomination tickets. I say a few because when one goes through the list of those granted direct nominations, it consists of aspirants taking part in heavily contested seats.

The granting of the ODM certificates to Evans Kidero and Hassan “Sultan” Joho does not guarantee a win. They have a vicious fight come August 8. It is only aspirants like Homa Bay’s Gladys Wanga whose seat is in deep Orange zone, who can commence celebrations. For the myriad other aspirants in NASA, Jubilee and other “also ran” outfits, most will have their election determined between April 21 and 28, and August will just be the coronation.

The “nomination as election” phenomenon has been a feature of the last five multi-party polls, where dominant political parties have emerged in large swathes of the country and defined electoral outcomes. Who can forget the two Fords and the Democratic Party in 1992? Or PNU and the two ODMs in 2007?

The one similarity with these dominant outfits was that the candidate who carried their much-valued nomination certificate won the General Election with a landslide in their core zones.

Hence in 1992, Ford Asili carried all the seats in Kiambu and Muranga, DP in Nyeri and Ford Kenya all the seats in Nyanza and most of Western Kenya. In 2013, Cord carried all the seats in Nyanza and Lower Eastern while TNA carried almost every seat in Central Kenya and Upper Eastern.

I point out these realities to tell the peace-lovers and the middle-class that while they will be sitting comfy in their lovely neighborhoods awaiting the General Election, the fate of that election will have been determined long before they wake up on August 8 to take selfies on the voting queue and tweet.

Having observed our primaries for a while, I have noted that the majority are determined by party operators, extremely uncouth candidates and a variety of unsavory characters. Majority of peace loving party members cannot handle the chaotic nominations and give up participating in these processes, leaving it to those who thrive in disorder.

Unfortunately, the result is one we all have to live with because in these zones, the candidate that is nominated is the one who inevitably wins the election. I do not blame the peace lovers and those in the middle class for this apathy to party primaries.

Party primaries are messy. They are violent. They are deliberately disorganised. For all the democracy in their nomenclature, I am not aware of any political party that comes into this process to pursue a democratic conclusion. Most party candidates and their sponsors are also not interested in a democratic process.

Peace lovers?

The end result is that these messy primaries totally soil our democratic content. The MPs and MCAs who eventually end up governing the country are products of this shambolic process that we disdainfully avoid. It is for this reason that those of us who care about our democracy have no choice but to review our conduct in relation to party primaries.

Those who vote in areas “owned” by dominant parties must, even it demands that you hold your noses, join these parties. It costs an average Sh20 to join the average party.

At some level, these parties are starved of professionals in their membership and will appreciate your involvement. You must then identify your candidates and support them at the primaries which support must include voting in these primaries. It may improve the process. It makes no sense to wait for your preferred candidate to be defeated and then have to support a candidate you cannot stand.

The habit of Kenya’s peace-lovers and the middle-class elite standing in the electoral sidelines and only complaining when things do not go their way is the height of irresponsibility and must cease.

—The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya