Parties, candidates ready to merge to oust strong political rivals.
By: N. George
Worth Noting:
- Early this year we have witnessed ODM presidential nomination aspirant Jimmy Wanjigi on 28 January in Wote, Makueni county drumming up support for Kalonzo Musyoka while on 29 & 30th January this year Martha Karua of NARC-Kenya party in Machakos and Kirinyaga political rallies assured her support for Kalonzo Musyoka.
- In Kisumu county 4 aspirants for gubernatorial seat among them Kisumu Senator Fred Outa, former Governor Jack Ranguma, Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) for East Africa Community (EAC) Ken Obura and former Kisumu Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo have teamed up to field a single candidate for governorship position in a bid to oust the incumbent Prof Anyang Nyong’o.
Harambee is a famous word in Kenya even it appears on its coat of arms. In Swahili it means pulling together or unity.
In majority of African cultures cooperation was emphasized where work like house building was communal even raising kids was a communal affair where if you kid did something wrong your neighbour or any other adult could punish him them report him to you.
After Kenya attained its independence in 1963 the first president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta encouraged the communities to work together for the common good of the new nation. Many projects which include land buying companies were formed by people who work as self-help groups which contributed resources which help to purchase lands which were previous under control of Britons, infrastructural development like roads and water provision, education growth through construction of schools and college, construction of cattle dips, national unity was promoted as people from diverse backgrounds came together to participate in projects.
The other principles of Harambee spirit included mobilization of the people locally to participate in social and economic development of their locale, collective good rather than personal gain, maximum utility of local resources like materials and labour.
There was long struggle in Kenya in 1980’s as politicians and activists agitated for reinstatement of section 2A of the constitution which allowed multiparty system and in December 1991 their efforts paid off as the then president Daniel Moi reinstated it during a special conference of the ruling party opening door for his ruling KANU party to face opposition in the 1992 general elections.
The economic turmoil experienced during his reign has made many Kenyans wish for an alternative ruling party so KANU feared that they may be rejected at the ballot most likely by the forum for restoration of democracy (FORD) which was a national outfit but before the general elections were held the FORD spilt into Ford Kenya and Ford Asili other political parties emerged like Democratic party (DP), Kenya Social Congress (KSC), Kenya National Congress (KNC), Party of Independent Candidates of Kenya(PICK) and Kenya National Democratic Alliance (KENDA).
The multiplicity of these opposition political parties worked in favour of the ruling party KANU which required 36.35 percent of total votes cast to win the general elections that year and 1997 when KANU won after garnering 40.40 percent of the total votes cast.
In 2002 there was change in tact where leading opposition parties like DP, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Ford Kenya formed National Alliance of Kenya (NAK) before joining hands with Liberal democratic party to form National Rainbow Coalition Party of Kenya NARC to oust the independence party KANU in the general elections by garnering 62.2 percent against KANU who got 31.3 percent of total votes cast.
However there arose disagreement in 2005 in the run up to referendum and the ruling party NARC split, new mergers happened where the presidents factions of the party was joined by opposition parties like ford people where the splinter faction was joined other political parties and they formed Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) which they used to oppose the proposed referendum which the ODM won.
ODM maintained their momentum up to 2007 general elections albeit it split into ODM & ODM-Kenya where the incumbent was declared winner by electoral commission of Kenya (ECK) with 46.4 percent followed by ODM 44.1 percent then ODM-K 8.9 percent of total votes cast. You will realise that had ODM & ODM-K remained intact their total votes were more than that of the incumbent party.
The ODM party secured majority of the parliamentary seats totaling to 99 followed by Party of Nation Unity (PNU) with 43 seats then ODM-K with 16 seats the rest of parties shared the remaining 52 seats.
In 2013 there was no incumbent party as the outgoing president PNU did not sponsor any presidential candidate.
Jubilee alliance emerged winners with 50.51 percent followed by Coalition for Reforms and Democracy 43.70 percent, Amani Coalition 3.96, Eagle Alliance 0.6 percent of total votes cast. The Invalid/blank votes were 0.88 percent you would realise that the contest was tight and any further coalition among parties could had made the race tighter and tighter.
The 2017 general elections was almost a repeat of 2013 in relation to political parties formation and the results were almost the same with incumbent Jubilee party garnering 54.17 percent followed by 44.94 percent and independent candidate came third with 0.25 percent.
Over the years a candidates contesting for a similar seat have been witnessed joining the forces to defeat the seemingly strong candidate.
In 2007 ODM presidential candidate nominations Najib Balala bowed out instead urged his followers to support Raila Odinga who emerged victorious followed by Musalia Mudavadi. Much as we cannot say it is Balala’s votes that helped Odinga to clinch the seat we can say there was his support in the votes he gathered.
In Embakasi constituency parliamentary elections Mugabe Were of ODM won with 33 percent of votes cast defeating those supporting PNU with Ferdinand Waititu (26%) and John Ndirangu (22%). Unfortunately Mugabe Were was killed in January 2008 and a by-election was held where all PNU supporters both Waititu and Ndirangu joined hands and supported Waititu who emerged the winner after garnering 56 percent of total votes cast against ODM aspirant Esther Passaris who got 36 percent with support of Sumra Irshadali (CCU) who got 3% in 2007.
In 2017 Kiambu gubernatorial campaigns candidates who joined forces included James Nyoro, Ferdinand Waititu and David Kariuki and they successfully ousted the incumbent William Kabogo. Had they gone sole it could have been difficult to secure the win.
Early this year we have witnessed ODM presidential nomination aspirant Jimmy Wanjigi on 28 January in Wote, Makueni county drumming up support for Kalonzo Musyoka while on 29 & 30th January this year Martha Karua of NARC-Kenya party in Machakos and Kirinyaga political rallies assured her support for Kalonzo Musyoka.
In Kisumu county 4 aspirants for gubernatorial seat among them Kisumu Senator Fred Outa, former Governor Jack Ranguma, Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) for East Africa Community (EAC) Ken Obura and former Kisumu Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo have teamed up to field a single candidate for governorship position in a bid to oust the incumbent Prof Anyang Nyong’o.
“The candidate is amongst us, and we will name him in the next two weeks,”
“We want to tell our people that there will be nominations for all seats, and nobody should hoodwink you that there is a line up,” said Oloo.
“They thought we will run divided, they must prepare for a formidable team that is going to produce one candidate,” Outa remarked.
“I worked very well when I was the Governor and I allowed people to fend for themselves, I did not throw out anybody from their places of doing business,” Ranguma said.
In most positions countrywide in swing zones like Nairobi you will find each political parties coalitions wanting to field their strongest candidate for each position whether gubernatorial, senatorial, women representative and member of parliament to avoid splitting their votes thereby giving advantage to their opponents.
Jerameel Kevins Owuor Odhiambo