What NASA should do in preparation for 2022

I would like to congratulate you for your huge efforts and sacrifices in the last general elections which though you did not legally win, exposed rotten electoral system and institutions. I am familiar with Kenya’s independence story, the struggle for the second liberation and the current struggle for the third liberation – under the banner of ELECTORAL JUSTICE, INCLUSIVITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. I acknowledge your efforts and those of many others, especially those who died during these struggles. Over the past three decades, I have basically voted for the opposition. You should, therefore, view my advice below as a voice of reason from within: It is good that you have pledged not to relent in your struggle after the general election of 2017, but to continue to put the government of the day (legitimate or not) on its toes. But I think there is also one major agenda which you don’t seem to prioritize, namely; the transformation of party politics in Kenya. This should be a key plank in the struggle for the third liberation. First, you should merge the current NASA constituent parties into one large opposition party to counterbalance Jubilee. When URP and Jubilee merged, there were internal fears that their performance at the general elections would be undermined by independent candidates. However, this did not happen because, in the end, the so-called ‘independent’ candidates were either allied to Jubilee or NASA (an irony in itself!). Failure of NASA to front single candidates in the general election of 2017 was one of the main reasons why the coalition lost a majority in the National Assembly, Senate and County Governments. Hence, confront and learn from your failures, work to go to elections of 2022 as NASA party, not as a coalition. In fact, working on project NASA party alone will keep all of you so preoccupied you won’t notice 2022 arrive! Don’t waste your time ‘rebuilding’ individual parties. Divided, you will sink again in 2022! Secondly, build democratic and strong NASA party structures and people networks across the country. Learn from South Africa and Tanzania where political power revolves around strong party organizations and not strong individuals, tribe or money. During the 2017 elections, I traveled across many constituencies in Bungoma County and I was shocked – party structures and representation barely existed at the grassroots –location, ward, even constituency. It was mainly about individuals with money and their small cliques of “party officials”. This has to change. Identify strong and committed people from grassroots upwards who are capable and willing to sacrifice to sell and grow a NASA party as a regular business, not just as a few weeks of the campaign to elections. Such a process should be competitive, with candidates forward, sub-branch and branch seats applying and being vetted through an interview process. Thirdly, leadership transition: Establishment of a NASA party should be accompanied with leadership transitioning. Somehow, the top leadership of Jubilee seems to have largely transitioned from the 1980s and 1990s. In NASA, with the exception of the Wetangula, Joho, Nanok, Mbadi and the Kilonzo Juniors, the top seems to be largely stuck in the 1980s and 1990s. It is already clear within the opposition that Raila will not be vying for president in 2022. But that does not mean he should retire from active politics. Indeed, the biggest legacy that can crown Raila’s lifetime career in the liberation of Kenya is bequeathing a NASA party to another fearless opposition leader away from Luo Nyanza. This would be the beginning of the de-tribalization of politics in Kenya and can come through credible democratic and competitive elections in a NASA party. If ANC in South Africa and CCM in Tanzania can do it, why not NASA in Kenya?

What NASA should do in preparation for 2022

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