Uhuru, Raila parties don’t inspire hope

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Indiscipline by political parties offers the greatest reason for corruption and ethnic alienation in Kenya. No matter how worried we are about bad governance, debate about norms of our democracy that suffer every election year should trouble our conscience.

Looking at our erratic history and narrowing down to the Jubilee Party and NASA affiliates, my take is that shaky political outfits make for fairly serious problems for our democracy. Political scientists EE Schattschneider’s assertion that democracy is ‘unthinkable’ without parties to do the work of campaigning, organise stable coalitions, and help citizens make sense of political choices is exactly right.