Yes, no law can fix politicians mistrust in alliance building

No one really seems to care for what happens after this August’s election. [Courtesy]

You cannot legislate honour. This is the message politicians should have in mind as we near presidential assent to the Political Parties Amendment Bill (2021).

The Bill is designed to streamline the inter-party coalition building.

Critics say the Bill is a gimmick to benefit the politicos aligned to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Allies of Deputy President William Ruto would prefer alliance formation to be as close to August 9 as possible, perhaps to deny defectors opportunity to serve as spoilers.

Either way, the Bill will not magically end the culture of intra-elite mistrust that pervades our politics.

The fact of the matter is that perfidy is partially responsible for the high levels of party volatility in Kenya.

From the original Kanu, to Ford, to NARC, to Jubilee, potentially long-lasting parties have fallen by the wayside due to leaders’ inability to form durable pacts that are found on honour and inter-personal trust.

Too often, politicians have been willing to double-cross each other with abandon as they shamelessly switch from one briefcase party to the next.

Our leaders’ lack of personal honour and consequent ephemeral nature of parties exacts a high price on our body politic.

Our political parties are not rooted in any real cross-ethnic mass interest groups. Parties do not stand for any discernible programmatic agendas.

And the resulting candidate-centric nature of our politics leaves us open to elite manipulation of identity politics to the detriment of the greater good.

It is telling that what motivates divisions over the Bill is not principle, but short-term political manoeuvring. Ruto’s strategy is predicated on having a lean minimum winning coalition, while Raila wants a big anti-Ruto tent.

Therefore, Raila stands to benefit from the fallout from both nominations within the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and/or alliance talks with potential affiliates.

Under this assumption, the more time between such a fallout and the election, the better for Odinga.

No one really seems to care for what happens after this August’s election. And that in itself shows no one politician cares about how we will play politics for years to come.

-The writer is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University