From: odhiambo okecth

From: jt okinda

INTRA PARTY DEMOCRACY. WHERE ARE WE?

It was great being invited to contribute my piece by those of you who believe that the country is greater than any one of us. As young people, you have decided rightly that you need a sustainable political vehicle with which to ferry your ideas to the next level.With the promulgation of the new constitution, the country is experiencing unprecedented political awareness than has been experienced before. This is because the constitution is built at the altar of people friendly institutions of governance. Political parties by their own nature are instruments of democratic governance. It is imperative that all political parties in Kenya practices intra party democracy.Democracy requires periodical elections. The constitution spells out that all members of a given political party are entitled to participate in such elections without fear or favor. The rider is that elections must be by secret ballot. Any party elections not conducted as per the constitutions can easily be annulled by the court. To build our parties, we must be ready to accept the principal of mutual respect for all those who choose to be members of the party. People make free choices when it comes to party membership. It is important that those choices are respected even at the time of discourse even where difference of opinion surfaces. As members of ODM, we must admit that at some point, rain started beating us. This is the best way to confront the beast that has made our party headline news since the last election circle. The starting point is the party nomination of 2007. Orange was riding high on opinion polls before our nomination of 2007. Our match to take over the leadership of this country was unstoppable.Come the 2007 nominations, we goofed! Members of the high table, notably nicknamed Pentagon, decided to disrespect the party constitution by giving themselves direct nomination. Party members who had political ambitions but hailed from constituencies where Pentagon members had awarded themselves direct nomination decided to take a walk to other parties. This was the beginning of our declining popularity. Other occupants of the high table such as the party national chairman, the party national secretary general all claimed a price of direct nomination. It was disheartening to our members who had shown interest on some of these seats to have been denied the basic fundamental right to participate in the nomination process. There are several cases where people had paid the kshs.100, 000 nomination fees which were never refunded! This amounted to daylight robbery!Bickering as ODM family started just during and after nomination of party candidates. Members of the so called Pentagon worsened the situation by influencing the nomination of their cronies in regions they purportedly controlled. The whole nomination process was a farce! This gave the party bad publicity to the extent that the party youth literally broke into party offices, beating up party staff and destroying party properties as part of the protest. The nomination fallout gave our opponents plenty of ammunitions to throwaround. Our defecting members dissatisfied with the nomination also swelled their ranks. We must never allow this to happen again.The rigging of the national Presidential Election at the end of 2007 brought the ODM family together as they protested the election outcome. As the country moved to power sharing deals between the two contending parties, ordinary members were once again forgotten. The leadership had gotten their half bread and the members became irrelevant as the bread was being shared among the political elite! At the sharing high table
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there was no difference between ODM and PNU. All were greedy for the slice! Four years down the line, no tangible engagement with the voting party membership has been felt. The relevance of party members is now starting to be felt as we approach another election circle and votes are needed for the full loaf!Politics in my view, should not just be for the capture of power for the elite to grow richer, but should be for the general good of the entire population. Political parties should create mechanism of being at tandem with their supporters. Apart from the existence of physical structures that provides office spaces, there must be well harnessed human resource to manage the offices. Relevant communications gadgets such as computers, internet connectivity, printers and other writing materials should be part of the office infrastructure. In addition to all these, a functioning library to disseminate party and other relevant state information must be within reach.Information is power. The party must use its spread to transmit development information to the people. People want to know how to access bursary funds, youth enterprise funds, women enterprise funds, constituency development funds and other funds from state and private actors. The party that cares will ensure that the general membership has the information needed to access these funds. Apart from providing data banks at the branch offices for the funds, the branch/sub branch secretariat will be available to assist party members in filling up relevant application forms and making a follow up for disbursement.The party branches can effectively be used to promote development agenda for the locality. Information on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining, horticulture, green house agriculture, agro forestry, crafts development can be transmitted to the people by the branch officials guided by professionally qualified branch executive. Such level of involvement will make the party relevant all year around.By directly engaging with members on development issues, the party will consistently be recruiting new members. It is through improved membership that revenue for running party affairs can be raised. Our relevance as a party of posterity can only be felt if we consistently show our commitment to the economic empowerment of our people. The best way to confront our national weakness such as corruption, negative ethnicity is through civic education conducted by the party.In order for our party to be positioned for 2012 leadership of this great country, credible party elections must be conducted. Building confidence among our members will greatly enhance our image as a party of reform. The leadership must allow the election process to be as free as possible and in tandem with the constitution. This time around leaders must come from the grassroots membership of party rank and file. Any attempt at imposing leaders will force all reformists to move away from ODM and seek another political vehicle to carry the reform agenda through.By deciding for elections, ODM is again leading from the front. After the enactment of the new constitution, it is imperative that all political parties create internal structures in conformity with the supreme laws. Most parties have been used to filling party positions through selective processes. This is no longer tenable as the new supreme law is very categorical that democratic elections must be held to fill party position. Elections have to be by secret ballot. Election by acclamation is no longer an option.
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As we wait for our party elections come July, it is imperative that we focus on how best to manage the process so that the resulting officials meets the threshold of gender and regionalism.The newly adopted party constitutions create 27 party offices. With 47 counties, it will not be possible to create room for officials in all the 47 counties. The party must therefore work out modalities of ensuring that all the formerly crafted 8 provinces and interest groups are represented at top decision making organ of the party.Regional balancing might look undemocratic to some, but it is unavoidable if the spirit of the new constitution is to prevail. In order to ensure that democracy prevails at the National Delegates Conference, various contenders of party offices are expected to create alliances across all the provinces. As a contender for Secretary General’s post at the national level, it is my contention that as a party, the interest of the youth must be at the centre of our policy based on Social Democracy as has been expounded on several of our policy papers. Job and wealth creation is at the core of solving numerous challenges facing our youth.You cannot create jobs without creating wealth. Wealth creation must also not be an end in itself but we must spread this wealth around to meet the needs of our youth. Our youth do not expect a free bite. They would like to work and earn a descent wage for work done. Negotiating institutions for wealth distribution such as Central Organization of Trade Unions must be empowered to genuinely represent workers on such negotiations. Compromising workers interest at the altar of underhand deals must be criminalized.The party on its part must create linkages between our youth and various state actors formed to empower the youth socially and economically. Bodies such as the Youth Enterprise Funds must be made to serve the youth diligently. Contrary actions must fall under criminality as it is sabotage against state interest which is likely to compromise state security.Sports bodies such as FKL and others must be made transparent and answerable to the Kenyan youth. Currently such bodies are lead by people on their twilight years. This should never be the case. The party must sponsor legislation which will ensure that age becomes a factor to allow for transition of management of sports from the old generation to our youth.As a party of reform, our Women must be empowered to contribute their full potential to the economy. This can only be achieved through genuine implementation of affirmative action endorsed by the Kenyan people when they voted for the new constitution. Our mothers, sisters, aunties and wives are not subordinate to anybody! They are fully fledged human beings with full rights under the new constitution. As a party of reform, we must bring out a leadership outfit which will ensure positions rotate between the sexes. Where a Woman is to be elected Party Chairman, a man must be her deputy and vice versa.As with Youth programs, Women programs must be made known to our women through a well structured information super highway. Information technology is no longer a choice; it is a must knowledge for the modern citizen. Our party must develop the IT department which will enable our members to have access to information at all times.
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All branches must have branch offices with executive officers recruited through structured manner and paid salary by the party. The party leader in his address to the delegates last year, indicated that he will personally visit the regions and open these new orange houses. With the new party offices and the installation of computers and internets, membership data will be available at the branch offices for the purpose of proper coordination.The new look ODM strives to promote work culture to our Kenyan people. It will be expecting impossible for the party to promise salaried employment to all able bodied Kenyans. Self initiative and the spirit of enterproniaship is the way to go. The party must strive to create enabling environment for business to prosper. While the world sings free market, this is piped dream for those who have no start-up point. The people must be educated and assisted to venture into business.Corruption is a culture which kills business. As a party the new look ODM must at all times fight the culture of corruption and patronage. Impunity is no longer an option. Those guilty of corruption must dance the music of corruption while serving their terms in our jails. KACC commission must deliver or they themselves answer to abuse of office charges.As we prepare our party for a new start, those who contributed their part during the second liberation must note that they are fully appreciated. This of course does not mean a right to hold offices where their performance can no longer meet our expectation. They should therefore gracefully give room to the new actors to move our country forward.Architect OKINDA JT