Peoples’ Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua’s declaration that the Opposition will field one candidate in all the six elective positions has been met with the opposition.
A section of the Opposition leaders maintain that the idea would not promote party democracy.
According to Karua, the joint nominations will be free and fair and the most popular candidate will carry the day, in a move that she said will prevent cannibalism and give President William Ruto administration an undue advantage to infiltrate and carry the day.
“As opposition parties we shall field one candidate in every elective seat from MCA to the Presidency, and we are testing this with the mini polls. We had decided to support the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) in Banisa but when he withdrew PLP fielded another candidate but he did not last for three days as he withdrew citing personal elections.
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She added “In Malava most likely it would be DAP-) in Magharini we shall support one candidate and this will be a practice of what we shall do in 2027.”
She added that the joint elections ‘will be transparent and everything will be on the table, the candidate that will be liked by the members of the public will carry the day, there shall be no corruption because we believe in the constitution.”
Karua said the move would cure the problem the Azimio La Umoja coalition committed during the 2022 general election where she said they fielded multiple candidates in their strongholds leading to a loss of over 30 parliamentary seats.
While maintaining the need for multiparty democracy in relation to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s clarion call for the Mt Kenya region electorate to join his DCP party, Karua maintained that the country was not a one party state as she enumerated the risks of a party yielding so much power.
“Parties are many parties and Kenyans have a right to join any party. I want to assure that there will be no time that we shall have one party state. If a party yields so much power, that power can be misused and that is why it is important to have multiple parties. We shall not deny DCP to seek popularity but we must tell them that we are also there,” she said.
However, Karua’s plan has not augured well with DCP’s Deputy Party leader Clephas Malala who maintains that individual parties needed to popularize themselves ahead of the 2027 general election even as they seek to field a single Presidential candidate.
“The idea of a joint nomination will not promote democracy and any political party within the Opposition should focus on establishing itself in every corner of the country. We are of the idea that every political party fields its candidate in all the elective positions while they approach the Presidential election as a unit,” he said in a phone interview.
On his part Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi termed Karua’s proposal but said it needed to be ratified when the Opposition gets into a formal coalition.
“It’s a desire which is not a bad one as it would encourage the electorate to come out and vote, some of the reasons regions such as in Nyanza had experienced low voter turnout is because some of the candidates are locked out and the one dominant party issues a direct ticket a move that discourages members of the locked out candidate to participate in voting,” Muturi said.
Muturi said when smaller parties are not given a chance to participate in the electoral process, due to the influence of bigger parties, the move affects the Presidential election negatively.
Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) leader Kalozo Musyoka while describing Karua’s proposal as a ‘brilliant one’ said the move needed a nod by the coalition principals to avoid creating a backlash within the Opposition.
He said the Opposition used the strategy in the 2002 general election to ensure that only the popular Opposition parties won in the elections, a move that was strategic to drum up support for the third President, the late Mwai Kibaki.
“This is a proposal that needs to be interrogated by the stakeholders within the Opposition before endorsing it as we seek to formally establish a coalition party. We shall also explore other proposals that will serve our unity and aid in unseating President Ruto,” Kalonzo said in an interview.
Kalonzo urged the Opposition leaders to continue reading from the same script to prevent Ruto from infiltrating into the Opposition for his political expediency even as he exuded confidence that they would come up with one candidate to face off with the President.
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Peoples’ Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua’s declaration that the Opposition will field one candidate in all the six elective positions has been met with the opposition.
A section of the Opposition leaders
maintain that the idea would not promote party democracy.
According to Karua, the joint nominations will be free and fair and the most popular candidate will carry the day, in a move that she said will prevent cannibalism and give President William Ruto administration an undue advantage to infiltrate and carry the day.
“As opposition parties we shall field
one candidate in every elective seat from MCA to the Presidency,
and we are testing this with the mini polls. We had decided to support the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) in Banisa but when he withdrew PLP fielded another candidate but he did not last for three days as he withdrew citing personal elections.
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She added “In Malava most likely it would be DAP-) in Magharini we shall support one candidate and this will be a practice of what we shall do in 2027.”
She added that the joint elections ‘will be transparent and everything will be on the table, the candidate that will be liked by the members of the public will carry the day, there shall be no corruption because we believe in the constitution.”
Karua said the move would cure the problem the Azimio La Umoja coalition committed during the 2022 general election where she said they fielded multiple candidates in their strongholds leading to a loss of over 30 parliamentary seats.
While maintaining the need for multiparty democracy in relation to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s clarion call for the Mt Kenya region electorate to join his DCP party, Karua maintained that the country was not a one party state as she enumerated the risks of a party yielding so much power.
“Parties are many parties and Kenyans have a right to join any party. I want to assure that there will be no time that we shall have one party state. If a party yields so much power, that power can be misused and that is why it is important to have multiple parties. We shall not deny DCP to seek popularity but we must tell them that we are also there,” she said.
However, Karua’s plan has not augured well with DCP’s Deputy Party leader Clephas Malala who maintains that individual parties needed to popularize themselves ahead of the 2027 general election even as they seek to field a single Presidential candidate.
“The idea of a joint nomination will not promote democracy and any political party within the Opposition should focus on establishing itself in every corner of the country. We are of the idea that every political party fields its candidate in all the elective positions while they approach the Presidential election as a unit,” he said in a phone interview.
On his part Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi termed Karua’s proposal but said it needed to be ratified when the Opposition gets into a formal coalition.
“It’s a desire which is not a bad one as it would encourage the electorate to come out and vote, some of the reasons regions such as in Nyanza had experienced low voter turnout is because some of the candidates are locked out and the one dominant party issues a direct ticket a move that discourages members of the locked out candidate to participate in voting,” Muturi said.
Muturi said when smaller parties are not given a chance to participate in the electoral process, due to the influence of bigger parties, the move affects the Presidential election negatively.
Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) leader Kalozo Musyoka while describing Karua’s proposal as a ‘brilliant one’ said the move needed a nod by the coalition principals to avoid creating a backlash within the Opposition.
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He said the Opposition used the strategy in the 2002 general election to ensure that only the popular Opposition parties won in the elections, a move that was strategic to drum up support for the third President, the late Mwai Kibaki.
“This is a proposal that needs to be interrogated by the stakeholders within the Opposition before endorsing it as we seek to formally establish a coalition party. We shall also explore other proposals that will serve our unity and aid in unseating President Ruto,” Kalonzo said in an interview.
Kalonzo urged the Opposition leaders to continue reading from the same script to prevent Ruto from infiltrating into the Opposition for his political expediency even as he exuded confidence that they would come up with one candidate to face off with the President.
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By Ndungu Gachane