Scramble for numbers: Party leaders take battle online

Political parties have turned to digital recruitment of members and online campaigns in the battle for the hearts and minds of young voters.

Deputy President William Ruto linked UDA, Raila Odinga’s ODM, Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper and Gideon Moi’s Kanu already have active digital registration portals.

ODM, Wiper, and Kanu launched their digital drives late last year while UDA unveiled its online mass membership drive two weeks ago. UDA plans to hold grassroots election in June.

Apart from membership drive, the Star has established that UDA is investing massively on digital messaging set to be rolled out in every social media platform.

UDA is also investing in local tech-savvy teams with a huge presence on social media platforms.

Ruto, who is keen to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, has been active on Facebook and Twitter. He shares information on the platforms and uses them to set the record straight when his political activities have been misreported.

Social media was a factor in the last two general elections—2013 and 2017. Analysts say the 2022 general election will be no different except online campaigns may become more sophisticated.

In 2017, Uhuru hired the services of global data-mining company Cambridge Analytica, which was responsible for spreading anti-Raila Odinga information.

Kanu secretary general Nick Salat told the Star the presence of political parties on digital platforms is the new frontier and competition is expected to go a notch higher.

He said the party’s digital membership recruitment is progressing well since it was launched by chairman Gideon Moi.

“Immediately we launched the drive, the Covid-19 pandemic was announced. So for us it was timely. Our chairman in his recent tours to various parts of the country has been rallying our supporters to register through the digital platform,” Salat said on the phone.

He said the 2022 election will be a game of numbers and the party that will have a higher number of registered members and voters will have a head start in the presidential race.

“We are in the process of computing the numbers we have so far. I can say so far so good. We have met the threshold and we are good to go. The first bird catches the worm,” Salat said.

He said the party has five categories of membership – platinum, gold, silver, bronze and imara – each with its own registration fee.

ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said the response to the online registration is good, adding that on Wednesday morning he had signed 100 new life members.

Sifuna said in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, ODM opted to go big on digital as it prepares for the election.

“The uptake is good. We are impressed with the numbers. Our youth are registering in large numbers. As one of the largest political parties in the country, we hope to leverage on these numbers in the next election,” he said on the phone.

UDA chairman Johnson Muthama said his party will rally Kenyans on development issues, adding that “beneficiaries of tribal politics have their days numbered”.

“We see some of our competitors organising themselves along tribal blocs. We are past that. UDA is a party of fresh ideologies on development and transformation of the entire country regardless of tribe,” he said.

“[It] is no longer about how you fought for liberation or multipartism, that was then. The Kenyans we have now are after leaders who are committed to changing their lives for the better.”

The former Machakos senator said UDA has rolled out an elaborate plan to register as many members as possible.

“Youth are a critical component of our party. Scan around and you will see faces of youth and women who are running UDA. We just unveiled an online registration platform recently and we are amazed with the numbers and the interests thousands of Kenyans have expressed,” he said.

Muthama said apart from digital, manual registration is also ongoing at party offices across the country.

Wiper Democratic Movement executive director Jared Siso said they have registered many new members since the launch of their portal last year.

He said with the digital platforms expanding, it is time for parties to also find new ways of reaching out to members.

Like Salat, Siso said the 2022 general election will be determined by numbers and parties will have to compete for the close to 20 million eligible voters.

“We were among the pioneer parties to go digital in registration of members. The system is active and very easy to register. We are targeting the youth who have access of smartphones and computers,” he said.

“Youth make a good population of our country and we want them to participate in large numbers in leadership and governance. As a party we believe in the youth and our party leader Kalonzo Musyoka is on record championing issues touching on the young people.”

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya