A story is told of a donkey that entered into a partnership with a fox for their mutual protection. They one day went out into the forest to hunt and had not proceeded far when they met a lion.
The fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the donkey if the lion would pledge his word not to harm the fox.
Then, upon assuring the donkey that he would not be injured, the fox led him to a deep pit and arranged that he should fall into it. The lion, seeing that the donkey was secured, immediately clutched the fox and attacked the donkey at his leisure.
Party primaries have been a thorn in the flesh for many political outfits across the world as we have often witnessed in Kenya. We are about to get into that same space ahead of the August election and this is where everything takes shape.
Political parties are about to get into a space where they will either thrive or see fallouts that may hurt their prospects in the election.
Last week, there was a flurry of activities among parties as aspirants made last-minute shifts and others were poached. In the parties with the most number of aspirants – UDA, Jubilee and ODM – focus will now shift to the primaries and the process parties will use for nominations.
Some seats have attracted very popular candidates such as Kiambu where we have Kimani Wamatangi, Ferdinand Waititu and Jungle in the UDA governor ticket race. Kericho is another county where big names, including seasoned politicians Charles Keter and Magerer Langat, are seeking the UDA ticket.
We also have other areas, especially at the ward level, where we are seeing tens of aspirants seeking the same ticket. In one ward in Nairobi, 57 aspirants want the seat on a single party ticket.
There are less than 2,000 positions available in the August contest but UDA cleared 5,700 aspirants while Jubilee has 7,893 aspirants. The ODM party has an equally big number of aspirants seeking the few tickets available.
Nominations are a tricky bit of any election for any political party and though parties are focused on a free and fair process, there will always be disgruntled aspirants and supporters. Luckily for many, the law this time allows those who lose to run as independent candidates but they also lose out on hanging on to party affiliation that Kenyans love.
Jubilee Party faced a lot of revolt in 2017 in the Mt Kenya region where a good number of candidates claimed they had been rigged out of the nominations. It is for this reason that we have seen many politicians seek tickets in smaller parties as they believe that they may be rigged out.
Political party nominations are a cornerstone of democracy and there is a need to ensure that the primaries are conducted in a free and fair manner. Kenyans need to accept that there can be fierce internal competition within a political party but this should not lead to the breaking up of the party.
We know that there are areas where nominations are the real election and the voting in August is just a confirmation. This is why nominations are highly contested in these areas, especially where the party enjoys majority support.
It is for this reason that political parties must ensure that their primaries are conducted in a free and fair manner. They must also ensure that all their members are involved in the process to avoid situations where aspirants rig themselves in.
Nominations are also an important exercise for party members and they should ensure that they participate actively. It is critical that they help entrench the culture of democracy that is needed in the country for the right representation.
The upcoming nominations should not be a do-or-die for the country where violence carries the day as we have seen in past elections. This is a democratic process that should be guided by principles similar to those we seek to uphold in the August election.
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