Opposition has legitimate role in a democracy, but it needs discipline

By Macharia Gaitho

In Summary
The latest brouhaha in the blind rush into a referendum campaign illustrates clearly a tactless opposition leadership...”

It is a prerequisite of a nascent democracy such as ours that the government in power be constantly kept in check by strong and vibrant opposition.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is why any administration must be denied the luxury of unchecked power, especially in situations where the threat is not rampant looting and plunder, but also the associated evils of tribalism, dictatorship and repression.

The Jubilee Government of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto earned its mandate, albeit contested, and now must be allowed to pursue its leadership agenda.

That does not mean, however, that Kenyans must be reduced to meek sheep and all alternative voices stilled. A strong opposition will remain vital to keep the government in check and help grow the culture and spirit of democracy.

The defeated Cord alliance presidential election ticket of Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka must therefore continue to play without hindrance a rightful role as the loyal opposition.

However, we see many fossilised minds in the government today who still think that it is their duty to block the legitimate activities of the opposition. Such elements would want to roll back the clock and recreate the one-party dictatorship. They must be condemned as enemies of democracy; saboteurs out to wreck prevailing law and order.

But then we also might have a particular problem where the opposition is not living up to its own mandate. We are actually today in a situation where the opposition seems brain dead.

Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the clear lack of coherence and unity of purpose being forever put on display by the leaders Kenyans expect to keep the Jubilee regime on its toes.

An opposition is supposed to be not just a bunch of uncoordinated noisemakers and rabble-rousers, but a disciplined outfit that offers clear policy prescriptions and demonstrates that it is government-in-waiting.

The latest brouhaha in the blind rush into a referendum campaign illustrates clearly a tactless opposition leadership that is losing its reason for being.

A bipartisan group of senators and governors launched a campaign for a referendum to secure their own status in devolved government. The Cord leadership made a clumsy attempt to hijack the referendum and introduce into it completely unrelated quest to change the way in which Kenyans chose their leaders.

Mr Odinga finally realised the folly of the move and backed down, but it might take a long time for him to debunk the impression that he was seeking to change the rule on presidential elections after having lost in a one-man-one-vote contest.

Cord was now proposing a harebrained scheme ostensibly aimed at neutralising Jubilee’s infamous ‘Tyranny of Numbers’ popularised by political consultant Mutahi Ngunyi.

The problem was that Cord then proposed a system that would take the presidential vote away from citizens and hand it to an Electoral College composed of the same greedy, venal and unprincipled legislators whose every vote would be up for sale to the highest bidder.

Cord could not even design its own proposal, but a came up with a mishmash borrowed heavily from an initiative launched by maverick activist Okiya Omtata that sought to replicate the American electoral college system.

The basic thrust is instead of the popular vote for the presidential candidate, each county would be assigned a number of electoral college votes based on the number of elected officials — one governor, one senator, one women representative, and the National Assembly representatives — it already has.

Then those votes, depending on who you listened to, would all be assigned to the presidential candidate who won the most votes in that county; or the combined electoral college of all counties would meet to make the final vote for the presidency.

Darned if I am going to surrender my vote to a bunch of buyable lackeys.

And the proposers forgot that the maths don’t add up because, unlike in the United States, our electoral college as proposed would not reflect the population of each county.

A cursory look will also show that if the proposed electoral college is convened today, Jubilee will still win.

mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com; twitter: @MachariaGaitho