Lesson from Young Democracy

Big names fall by wayside in chaotic party primaries rocked by delays and violence Political parties on Thursday learnt a humbling lesson in election logistics as they bungled their nominations and were forced to carry them over to Friday. Delays in the delivery of ballot papers, confusion, violence, and rigging allegations marred the exercise which the parties had deliberately moved close to the January 18 deadline to prevent defections. In areas where the nominations did take place, there was shock as prominent figures were rejected by members or qualified on technicalities. Housing minister Soita Shitanda was barred by the United Democratic Forum from running for the governor of Kakamega County because he does not have a degree. His assistant, Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, was prevailed upon by the Orange Democratic Movement elections board to run for a seat that does not require a university degree. She wanted to be the governor of Nairobi. The much-awaited battles in places such as Nairobi, Makueni and Kisumu were an anti-climax because they were pushed to Friday. In Bomet, the fight between outgoing MPs Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu) and Julius Kones (Konoin) was also postponed while violence and logistical problems pushed back the confrontation between former Communications Commission of Kenya board chairman Philip Okundi and Nairobi businessman Cyprian Awiti. In Kakamega, Mr Shitanda’s woes handed the UDF ticket to former Nyanza PC Paul Olando. In Machakos, the contest between former Mwala MP Mutua Katuku and former Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua for the Wiper gubernatorial ticket was hit by delays. The outcome will be known on Friday. The expected face-off between Wiper secretary-general Mutula Kilonzo and assistant minister Gideon Ndambuki was also pushed to Friday. The battle between outgoing Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi and Col (rtd) King’ang’i Muturi for the Mbeere parliamentary ticket was delayed for five hours. A last-minute decision by Hassan Omar to ditch ODM and seek nomination on a Wiper ticket deflated an eagerly anticipated battle for the ODM ticket. political party nominations are a complete, utter fiasco, and they tell us a great deal about Kenya’s political culture. First, and this is what puts the lives of all us in danger, is that politicians are a law unto themselves. They will take whatever reckless risk they want so long as it advances their political agenda. The big coalitions – Cord, Jubilee and Amani – put off their nominations yesterday (Thursday). Their calculations is that by doing so, it would deny their members an opportunity to defect should they lose in the primaries. So, they all went out, in the manner of sleep-walkers, to conduct a massive undertaking, almost in the same shape as a general election, allowing themselves only a couple of hours to do the polling, the counting, the tabulation of results, the processing of results, the appeals, adjudication and re-runs and dispute resolution