Sunday Nation
Date: 14.08.2016
Page 24
Article size: 333 cm2
ColumnCM: 74.0
AVE: 159840.0
To unite all its people, government must
endeavour to develop the entire country
When on Tuesday President
Uhuru Kenyatta and Dep­
uty President William Ruto
unveiled the intended merger of 12
people. They are called in order
parties, their The National Alliance
sonalities and platforms. This
divides people. Third, politics
is characterised by dispute and
debate especially about the distri­
bution and application of national
and United Republican Party re­
spectively included, they each said
the aim was to foster the unity of
Kenyans.
Transforming the governing
Jubilee Alliance into Jubilee Party,
Mr Ruto said, embodies the dreams
of Kenya's founding fathers who
sought to form a nation every re­
gion can be proud to belong to as
well as take on the challenge posed
by the ethnicisation of politics.
The President said Jubilee was
founded on a sacred covenant that
never again will political disagree­
ment and competition lead to
mayhem and bloodshed. Jubilee, he
went on, was a bold declaration of
confidence in a movement primed
to create a country which reflects
our diversity as well as unity.
Well spoken and carefully chosen
words. But the political arena is
shared and politics is characterised
by dispute and debate. The Orange
that people may make choices
between competing parties, per­
resources or wealth.
If the incoming Jubilee Party
seeks to play the political game and
unite the people of Kenya under the
party, then it will have to eschew
the politics as has been practised
since independence in a complete
paradigm shift. Is that coming?
Now, does Jubilee want to take
Kenya back to single party rule?
Kenya has more than 60 registered
parties and when 12 of them merge
that, in my view, cannot amount to
re­introducing political monopoly.
ficult to amend the document.
What the Jubilee move may have
and Deputy of plotting to take
Coalition for Reforms and Democ­
Kenya back to single party rule and
racy and or force it to splinter into
individual parties. But it could also
be an opportunity for the coalition
to morph into a single party. The
over a process engineered to claw
back on the constitution and take
Kenya back to repressive single
party rule.
Well spoken and deliberately
chosen words. But who is speaking
the truth? First, political parties are
created for the purposes of fighting
and winning elections; forming and
controlling governments; deter­
mining public policy; and keeping
power for as long as they can.
Second, elections, as I say, are
not called in order that they unite
or lose, they remain Kenyans.
Therefore to channel resources
into those areas or to those groups
whose parties won elections and
formed government only is to
victimise and exclude those Ken­
yans whose choices lost political
competitions. That is to curtail the
development of Kenya, that is to
fight Kenya and to retard it by set­
ting some regions against others.
That divides.
What must guide Kenya's politics
is that government must be con­
stituted for the development of the
entire country. That will unite. In
and out of government, this must
aimed to do is to isolate the op­
Deputy of deliberately presiding
The parties and their members go
into elections as Kenyans and, win
be the creed of every political party.
It is government's job to unite Ken­
yans. Will a big Jubilee Party mean
a big tent of government and not
position constellation that is the
terms. He accused President and
parties are Kenyans first before
they join parties of their choice.
stitution, aware of how President
Kenyatta and President Moi sys­
tematically mutilated the original
basic law, made it increasingly dif­
Raila Odinga, accused President
nopoly of power were long gone.
His Amani National Congress
counterpart Musalia Mudavadi sim­
ilarly warned against a return to a
one party state and life presidential
become card causing members of
The framers of the current con­
Democratic Movement's kingpin,
warned that the days of Kanu's mo­
The people they form parties for
are Kenyans. And the people that
latter move would possibly set in
motion a process where Kenya
would ultimately end up with two
one dominated by two communi­
ties?
wkopangaagmail.com
I It is government's job
to unite Kenyans. Will
a big Jubilee Party mean
a big tent of government
and not one dominated by
two communities?
strong parties as is the case in the
US and UK.
Now how would two strong
parties or one strong party unify
Kenyans? The drive by President
and Deputy appears premised on
the long held view that when all
are in the party of government or
when all are in government, then,
all realise development. Or, better
still, to realise development, then,
a people or groups, have to be in
government.
My view is that this does not
unite. Why? Because the people
who form parties are Kenyans.
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