Political party coalition clause unnecessary in new laws

By ATIENO ODUOR

In recent days, coalition party formation has taken center-stage during the debate on the Political Parties’ Bill. The Commission for implementation of the Constitution chairmanCharles Nyachae has argued for clause 10 of the Bill to be amended to comply with Article 108 of the Constitution which allows for political party coalition building after elections.

But, he stresses a law must be enacted to give these coalitions a life lease of 30 days to "block politicians from crafting coalitions that would bring down governments mid-stream, and destabilise the country".

Members of Parliamen on the other hand hope that the Bill will result into non- tribal "genuine coalition building" that is empty of "hypocrisy, opportunism and dishonesty".

While the debate on coalitions reflects genuine concerns by both CIC and legislators, there is a fundamental misunderstanding in the interpretation of Article 108 and on the general art of coalition building in politics.

To begin with, Article 108 is not about coalition building but party leaders. It makes provision for leader of the Majority Party and leader of the Minority/second largest Party or coalition of parties.

These are the persons, who will lead their parties in the National Assembly, and their designation is based on votes gained by the parties in an election; the largest minority party, for example will become the Official Opposition, with its leader the minority leader.

It does not foresee coalitions for this purpose.

Coalitions are a feature of parliamentary systems of government where it is necessary to have majority votes in Parliament because these will determine the leadership of the country.

Article 108 should be understood in the context of a Presidential system whereby an elected President leads and a President cannot be elected on the basis of a coalition. CIC’s advice, and indeed clause 10, is based on a relic of a Parliamentary system of Government.

In the new Constitution, Kenya’s presidential system is further structured in a way that provides little incentive for coalition building.

Usually parties form coalition governments as a strategic tool to get Cabinet posts which would then maximise their political power.

False optimism

Article 152 of the Constitution stipulates that "a Cabinet Secretary shall not be a member of parliament".

In other words, no more Cabinet goodies.

Unless there is a vote of no confidence on the president/cabinet, the prospects of a coalition induced government breakdown is quite minimal since the president’s Cabinet by being from outside Parliament, would enable him/her to lead the nation regardless of the position of her/his party in Parliament.

Although working as an independent body, the article also makes provisions for the national assembly to approve and check the performance of Cabinet Secretaries.

It makes sense to regulate political parties and instill party discipline, but why be so legalistic on coalitions?

In theory it all works, but in practice this will be an ugly mess. It is not prudent to warrant the 30 day coalition ban requirement.

Coalitions can form for limited pragmatic purposes or they can be long term partnerships. In the short-run, a minority party may find it useful to forge coalitions to achieve legislative support.

Or in the long-run, political parties may partner due to similarities in ideology.

There’s therefore no cause for alarm of a government breakdown or false optimism for a non-opportunistic pre-election and legislative coalitions, after all that’s just how politics work.

What is genuine is quite relative depending on a party’s agenda and individual’s interests. In the United States for example, the Republican Party’s agenda is genuine for republicans but not necessarily for Democrat’s.

At the same time, just because the two parties have different ideologies doesn’t mean they can’t pass bi-partisan legislations.

To paraphrase a popular clichÈ’ "in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, only interests", same with coalitions.

After all, Article 36 guarantees freedom of association.

The writer is a graduate student at John Hopkins University, USA.

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