Ageyo’s Angle: The season of National Delegates Choreography

Now, if you arrived in Kenya from another planet this week, you would have been forgiven to think that this is the home of the most vibrant political parties on earth. You would easily have imagined that this is a land where parties have solid membership and compete fiercely on clear ideological platforms each election cycle. In fact, you would have applauded Kenyans for embracing multi-party democracy with such gusto and parading themselves proudly for their beloved parties. But you would be so terribly mistaken. I am talking about the jamboree that has been the season of National Delegates Conferences – now with that important-sounding acronym, NDCs.

Almost everyday, we have seen some party or other come to life almost from nowhere, including some we didn’t even know existed and others which we thought had long died. But it is that season, they all come out from their cocoons where they have been hibernating since the last harvest season. I speak about this with a heavy heart, because I am a staunch supporter of multipartyism and I believe in a free market place of ideas where the best idea carries the day.

But I bring it up because I have a wish, several actually. I wish our parties were this vibrant all year round. I wish they would be alive in and out of season. I wish the ones who don’t make it to government would be this strident in keeping the government of the day in check. Because, let’s face it – where have all these parties been? What have they been doing since 2017? Where have they been when Kenyans were sleeping hungry and dying of preventable diseases? Where were they when cancer patients couldn’t get life-saving treatment and dialysis for kidney patients slipped out of reach for those who needed it the most? Where were they when our debt was ballooning and our cost of living going through the roof? Where were they when thieves were raiding out national coffers for personal gain and the stench of corruption rising to the high heaves?

You see, every political party can – or shall I say should – only be one of two things. Either it is in government or it is a government-in-waiting. If it is in government, it governs, which means we give it credit for what has gone right and blame it for everything that has gone wrong. If it is not in government, we judge it by how much it held the government’s feet to the fire, by how much it interrogated government policies and made the necessary noise, by how much it provided an alternative idea to what the government of the day had placed on the table.

In other words, if you are not in government, you are giving us a reason why we should have put in you in government instead of those who are there now. That ladies and gentlemen is how this system was designed to work and it cannot work any other way. And by the way, isn’t it puzzling that all these parties somehow managed to fill up the fairly spacious arena at the Bomas of Kenya? Is it possible that these delegates could just be the same fellows filing through a revolving door and turning right back when the next party calls its National Delegates Conference? No wonder a friend of mine called it the National Delegates’ Choreography. I wonder how many t-shirts and caps they may be keeping in their closets right now.

Also, why do I get the feeling that most of these meetings are merely aimed at rubberstamping what their party leaders want? Is it plausible that DAP-K delegates would, for instance make a different decision from what their leader Wafula Wamunyinyi wants? Or what Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa has in mind? Is it conceivable that ODM delegates would meet on Saturday and disagree with the wishes of their party leader Raila Odinga? Can anyone imagine that UDA delegates would come to town and ask Deputy President William Ruto to drop his presidential ambition, for examples? Or do you really think that Jubilee delegates might for instance, ask President Uhuru Kenyatta to reconsider his stand and support his deputy William Ruto?

And you can ask that same question of literally every party in this country. But I will assume the best-case scenario and give everybody the benefit of doubt, I will assume that each of these parties has such deep roots in every corner of the country. I will assume that each one of them had their delegates elected down there by Wanjiku and sent to Nairobi to pronounce her wishes. I will assume that from here on we will have such a lively political party system complete with clear manifestoes that tell the parties apart. I will assume that these parties will conduct such free and fair nominations that will make our neighbouring countries green with envy. And that finally we will – at some point, see real party elections. Those are my assumptions. You too, can get yours.