Status of negotiated democracy in North Eastern Kenya

A traditional mechanism for nominating political leaders was a significant feature of the politics and political campaigns in the former North Eastern province of Kenya ahead of the August 8 polls.

But the exercise, which was dubbed ‘negotiated democracy’, attracted mixed reactions from the local residents, a move that led to the partial success of the concept in the region.

Peoples wishes

In Mandera County, Ali Ibrahim Roba was re-elected against the wishes of the powerful Garre council of elders in what is seen as a big blow to the system, which hitherto gave the elders a tight grip on who became what in the political arena in the region.

Even though the governor was initially nominated by the Garre elders during his first gubernatorial term, his later defiance to their verdict when they told him not to defend his seat was apparently because he felt that the decision was not based on performance but other trivial considerations.

“People will be elected based on their performance and not their clans or tribe. The campaigns must be about the agenda we have for our people and not about rotating leadership,” The Standard newspaper quoted Governor Roba as saying in April this year while addressing residents of Mandera during the launch of the county campaign team for the Jubilee Party at Moi stadium.

The concept however seemed to have somehow worked in Wajir and Garissa counties, where two former ambassadors, Mr Mohamed Abdi Mohamud and Ali Bunow Korane, captured the gubernatorial seats for the two counties respectively.

Legitimacy

A significant success of the system was as well witnessed in the legislative seats in both the national and county assemblies of the two counties. Wajir and Garissa now become important laboratories for testing whether elders’ verdicts are a boon or bane to democracy and development.

But of course that will also depend on the puzzle of legitimacy regarding whether the election petitions against most of the leaders will fail to prematurely end their five-year term as leaders.

While the system has always been in use in the region, however, interference from some well-heeled elites now seems to be threatening the level of trust locals have in the system.

Evidence of this was the significant opposition that faced the system during the recent political campaigns, which was exhibited in the rise of alternative candidates, some who also got considerable votes.

Public interest

That kind of opposition to elders was unheard of in North Eastern region because public interest is what mattered to elders of the past like the late Maalim Muhumed Sanbul from Garissa, who had a rigorous and participative endorsement procedure unlike today, where you have cases where leadership has been reduced to a simple gift of marriage among the local elites that is to be delivered by elders under the pretext of negotiated democracy..

In order to robustly improve the idea of negotiated democracy, the somali community would have to find innovative ways of freeing elders from dependency on funds from the moneyed elites because there is nothing like a free lunch, especially in politics.

Mr Mohamed comments on social and political issues