Tuesday, December 26, 2006
I pity my fellow Kenyans.
As we close celebrating the birth of Christ, we commence the season of the birth of political parties. We are a vibrant lot sprouting a party after every disagreement. After you fail to gain the party post you have coveted for long, you start your party where you become the automatic head. Some are busy strategizing and positioning themselves for later sale or barter in the market of power sharing. Parties have become commodities to be bandied around with presumed following being translated into votes. The real culprits in this game are the Kenyans who allow themselves to be treated like chattels in the antique shops. They blindly follow these leaders from party to party seeking morsels from the power brokers and favors from the dominant parties.
The ethos, goals and manifestos (if any) of these parties are never heard nor considered. Like the rest of the mainstream parties whose manifestos and goals are only dusted during the elections, these new parties do not have an agenda to promote. Few of the membership can tell what their party stands for, other than winning the state house race. Yet Kenyans consistently follow them around giving them credibility. Ford-Kenya has seen most mutations in the history of political parties in Kenya. We have not yet seen the end of it.
Political awareness among Kenyans should not be limited to the voting day only. Kenyans must begin to question the wisdom of hopping from party to party after every crisis, real or imagined. Why does this major awareness of the weakness or failure of a party occur only when you lose a post? The failure of the individual to win favor in his party should not be course for the membership to split. People must learn to appreciate political parties as being beyond the individual. The whims of an individual are not the wishes of the party. People must learn to stick to principles of the party and sink or swim with their parties if they believe in them.
Parties that evolved and thrived around an individual tend to die once the individual is removed from the center, ask Ford Asili and NDP. Irrespective of the membership there is no machinery in place to sustain the momentum and drive once the fulcrum is crushed. This is because we build the parties around the individual rather than around a philosophy or belief that can be pursued irrespective of who is at the helm. Until Kenyans learn to pursue a philosophy. an ethics, a belief they will always pursue an individual who will lead hem around in search of the elusive path to state house and state largesse. No wonder I pity my fellow Kenyans.
The ethos, goals and manifestos (if any) of these parties are never heard nor considered. Like the rest of the mainstream parties whose manifestos and goals are only dusted during the elections, these new parties do not have an agenda to promote. Few of the membership can tell what their party stands for, other than winning the state house race. Yet Kenyans consistently follow them around giving them credibility. Ford-Kenya has seen most mutations in the history of political parties in Kenya. We have not yet seen the end of it.
Political awareness among Kenyans should not be limited to the voting day only. Kenyans must begin to question the wisdom of hopping from party to party after every crisis, real or imagined. Why does this major awareness of the weakness or failure of a party occur only when you lose a post? The failure of the individual to win favor in his party should not be course for the membership to split. People must learn to appreciate political parties as being beyond the individual. The whims of an individual are not the wishes of the party. People must learn to stick to principles of the party and sink or swim with their parties if they believe in them.
Parties that evolved and thrived around an individual tend to die once the individual is removed from the center, ask Ford Asili and NDP. Irrespective of the membership there is no machinery in place to sustain the momentum and drive once the fulcrum is crushed. This is because we build the parties around the individual rather than around a philosophy or belief that can be pursued irrespective of who is at the helm. Until Kenyans learn to pursue a philosophy. an ethics, a belief they will always pursue an individual who will lead hem around in search of the elusive path to state house and state largesse. No wonder I pity my fellow Kenyans.
KENYA BEYOND 2005
I am coming back wait for me.
