Apart from Moi and Raila no politician has been able to manage one big party. We all saw how Uhuru mismanaged KANU eventually dumping it and running for a briefcase party.
Ruto formed URP. Almost five years to the day, there is nothing to show for it. No officials no elections and no party. Just a name. He's now killing it to start yet another briefcase outfit called JAP.
Kenyans like all democratic minded people know the value of political parties. <they also know briefcase parties whose aim is to be a Mbus to elected office. That is why Kenyans identify with ODM. Others are finding new parties like Mashinani. Anything that resembles a legitimate and functioning party
I in no way ignore the strength of JAP. It has the provincial administration and NSI as the backbone. They will help it organize and rig nominations in accordance with money flow and instructions from State House and Ruto. But by 2022 members (=Kikuyus and Kalenjins) would have found new vehicles. I am not even sure Ruto will run along with Uhuru in 2017. We listen to what he tells his confidants and wonder.
Namwamba is not sure if he has left ODM. He knows its suicide and even he would shake at the suggestion of political harakiri. MPs are looking for money to finance campaigns. Hence none has publicly declared defection apart from Mung'aro who is lining up his pockets to finance his lavish debauchery in tourist hotels amid calling press conferences to say how the Coast is getting more and more jubilee. Few outside wishful-thinking Jubilee adherents listen to his drunken rants or take them seriously anymore (apart from Eurobond journalists)
There is something going on in Kenya about democracy that is interesting to watch because its developing naturally and becoming uniquely Kenyan. It started a long time ago when the liberation forces came together to defeat Kanu. We then had Kanu and NDP and then NARC which finally ousted KANU from power. After that it has been one coalition after the other and any attempt to have big political parties have failed. Raila tried to get everyone to join one party in 2007 to get rid of Kibaki and that led to the decision or the excuse by Uhuru and Kalonzo to leave. In 2013 there was no attempt to have everyone belong to one party but instead we managed to form two major umbrella political coalitions, CORD and Jubilee. I think this is the future of Kenya's democracy. Its going to be like Israel. There will be many small political parties who are fiercely independent but ready to form a ruling coalition either before or after the elections. This is why I think JAP is a bad idea and will not work. The era of big political parties is over. The trend seems to be towards small parties who do not really require internal democracy. I think ODM should break up and let people like Ababu form their own political parties and then when the time for election, comes, try to form a coalition with them. Maintaining major political parties like ODM is becoming to expensive and too much hard work to hold together. Ruto will realize that he cannot hold JAP together once Uhuru is nolonger president and therefore all these money, and political capital spent putting it together is a waste of time. This is the era of small parties and I think Rutto is on the right track with his CCM.
Topic: CCM - Chama Cha Mashinani Expanding (Read 6371 times)