Commentary By leo Odera Omolo.
There has been hue and cry about the flawed nominations during preliminaries, and now that the new constitution has the provisions, which allows for the participation of independent candidates in the election some of the parties would find it extremely difficult to attract aspirants who would contest the election for the various elective positions in 2013.
There has been hue and cry about the much flawed parties weak and undemocratic primary nomination system ever since the violence marred genera elections of 2007. Each time there is a by-election for any vacant parliamentary or civic seats, participants in such election have been coming out fire-spiting with allegations massive riggings.
Other contestants have come out fuming with claims of massive briberies, vote buying, manipulations of such elections by party high ranking officials and the hastily appointed hand-picked returning officers and elections officials, poor arrangements, luck of logistics and inadequacy of election materials and luck of accountability and transparency during such exercises.
However, political parties in this country appeared have tuned deaf and dumb, making no effort to have these anomalies adequately addressed an rectified in time to create democratic space allowing all aspirants their constitutional and democratic rights of participating in the elections.
There is a lot of on-going murmuring everywhere about the legitimacy of political parties preliminaries .Parties have only six months left to have these anomalies rectified and pragmatic policy blueprint governing their primary nomination ushered in.
If this is not done in time, some of the parties might find it extremely difficult to attract candidates who would wish to contest the elections on their tickets.
Alternatively it could be wise for the current 10th parliament before its dissolution before the next general elections to introduce substantive motion in the House to have a fresh debate on the issue of party primary nominations else have this provision abolished it altogether.
Alternatively to make a new provision to have these preliminaries elections by parties conducted by the Interim Election and Boundary Commission {IEBC. It has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that our political parties cannot an are incapable of conducting any credible preliminaries on their own, hence the need for the IEBC’s active participation in the exercises.
The recent primary nomination conducted by the ODM during Ndhiwa by-election should be a study case. In the controversial preliminary in that particular parliamentary electoral constituency, close to 70 per cent of the electorate were locked out and denied their constitutional and democratic rights of voting in the by-election and the eventually in the election proper, because only less than 10 per cent of the registered voters cast their votes.
Ndhiwa is one of the most populous constituency within the C the greater old Southern Nyanza region n within the County of Homa-Bay followed by the old Kasipul-Kabondo with Rongo and Karachuonyo coming out third and fourth respectively.
Records are indicating that close to 84,000 or more voters are registered in Ndhiwa constituency. But shockingly and surprisingly only about 7,200 people were able to cast heir votes. There could have been more apathy by the voters. However, the number of votes cast represented less than 10 per cent of the registered voters in the just concluded and controversial by-election.
The 7,200 were shared only by six candidates including the declared winner in the by-election which had attracted 23 candidates, therefore these aspirants were denied their constitutional and democratic rights of being voted in.
The same could be said of the close to 77,000 or more the number of voters who were locked out of the exercise and therefore did not take part in the by-election. Why? It is shame and a big shame on the ODM, the party which has all along been boasting of championing the essence of the democratic principles in this county and whose leader rail Amolo Odinga has all along been in the forefront in the struggle for the multi party system of politics and democratic space as well as good governance for years.
I personally visited the various us poorly arranged makeshift polling stations in the expansive constituency, particularly at Magina, Obera,Pala,Ndhiwa, Ratang’a Rapedhi and Kobodo during early hours of the morning. The tuning out by he voters was excellent. But there were no signs of returning officers and election clerks for the best parts of the morning hours. Voters waiting for too long while queuing in the blazing sun outside the polling stations with no signs of election officials on sight There were no ballot boxes nor ballot papers. And after waiting for too long most of the would be voters became disillusioned and highly agitated leading to some ugly and isolated incidents including fist fights erupting in some stations, the majority of the voters opted to go home peacefully.
It appeared that the party big-wigs had someone in min whom they wished to be elected, but kept their secrets I their chest. Off course each of the aspirants had parted with Khs 200,000 paid in cash to the ODM headquarters at the Orange House in Nairobi before being issued with the clearance certificate of participation to the exercise, and one is made to believed that if all the 23 aspirants had paid their cash deposits to the party, the amount could have been sufficiently enough to fray off the costs of printing enough election materials as well as hiring election officials and field supervisors .This was not done. Why? Where this colossal amount of money did goes to?
The ODM has since dissolved its seemingly inept election board previously headed by he former Rangwe MP Eng Phillip Okundi and replace it with the new one whose members re still yet to be named publicly. However, fears persist in many parts of Luo-Nyanza that the next January primary nomination by the party for those intending to contest the elections for various elective positions would not be free and fair.
ODM leaders and members in Luo-Nyanza and elsewhere are suspicious about the intention and the role to be played by members of the so-called party re-loaded team.
Others have bee heard saying they were keeping their option for heir own chest, an perhaps they would opt to run and contest the elections as independent candidates. Similar complaints have been received fro members of the Musalia Mudavadi led URD party in Western Province.
From all these, there are clear indications that some of the existing political parties would not attract and get the sufficient number of candidates to fill the elective positions under the new constitutional dispensation which had re-introduce tri-cameral parliament that including Senate, National Assembly, County governors and County electoral wards.
The fears that persist inside Luo-Nyanza is said to be spreading very fast into the neighboring region of Kisii and the South Rift where the William Ruto lead URP despite having recently conducted the “Kangaroo” like grass root election it which were famous and notorious for “selective elections’ and now ODM and modern day political parties in Kenya.
Ends