Some years back, in pre-Covid times, I was sometimes asked to teach a seminar on political or public policy commentary at one institution or another.
And the point I always strove to make was that being able to explain the politics of one country, usually required that you read extensively the available literature on the politics of other countries.
And since the largest quantity of such literature – histories, memoirs, biographies, etc – in the English language relate to the lives and times of British or American politicians, it was from these two nations that the aspiring political commentator could find the best examples to illustrate his or her key arguments.
Take for example a subject currently tormenting the minds of all the key strategists of the major political formations: how to conduct party primaries that will be seen as free and fair by the great majority of party supporters.
If you have read any of the many books written about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who made history as the first woman to hold that position) you will know that no such thing ever troubles the party leaders in the UK.
There is never any pretence of free and fair party elections. Rather when a young man or woman aspires to a career at Westminster, come the next general election, they are sent out by their party leaders to run for parliament in a seat they are bound to lose. Only after they have lost a few times – and in the meantime proved they have the potential to serve the party well – are they given a “safe seat” that they are sure to win.
Much the same applies to Kenyan politics, though our party leaders tend to be hypocritical about it. They know very well that there are many people, either already serving in elective office, or aspiring to do so, who have proved their value and deserve to get a direct nomination.
But our political traditions are such that any political party that openly dishes out “safe seats” in the manner that is taken for granted in the UK, will be judged to be undemocratic, and may lose some supporters to other parties.
Just over five years ago, I made this same point in an opinion column for this newspaper: That anyone aspiring for an elective seat for the first time was better off running as an independent. And that the promises of the various party leaders could not be taken at face value.
Such party leaders may even have every intention of giving a faithful apparatchik what would amount to a direct nomination. But as they face the shifting political landscape, their priorities may change.
My bigger point was that whatever else may have improved since the return to multiparty politics in 1992, one thing that remained constant was the power of party leaders to impose their arbitrary will on the voters of selected constituencies.
Our long-serving authoritarian President Daniel Moi, during the late 20th century, had his political favourites whom only a fool would dare challenge in what was basically an election with a predetermined outcome. Well, so too are the party leaders of the 21st century free to choose whom they want to see get their party ticket.
For some reason young Kenyans who aspire to a career in politics, find this reality very difficult to accept.
An idealistic young man I knew, who had his eyes on a parliamentary seat, got in touch after reading this column and told me that I was wrong. That whatever may be true for other political parties, the one he belonged to was completely democratic and stood for “reform”.
I generally avoid such discussion, as passionate political aspirants will almost always end up telling you something like, “If you know so much about politics, why have you never run for parliament and won a seat?”
I have a standard answer for this kind of remark. A quotation from the 18th century literary giant Samuel Johnson, who in response to an accusation made against him, pointed out that: “You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables."
