The political party as an instrument in governance is dead in Kenya, political scientists have said.
The parties neither have ideologies nor structures that can survive party founders, according to political scientists Adams Oloo, Prof Njuguna Ng’ethe and Prof Peter Wanyande.
The confusion that prevails in the political parties is best seen in Parliament, where it has become impossible to draw the line between Government and Opposition.
Numerically, MPs aligned to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are the majority. In law, LDP has only one MP, Kasipul Kabondo’s Paddy Ahenda. The rest belong to Narc.
Kanu is the Official Opposition party. But it now constitutes the Government of National Unity (GNU), meaning the Official Opposition Party is part and parcel of Government.
In this category belongs Ford People, which has members on both sides of the House. Last month, another party, Narc-Kenya, took three seats in by-elections and will have three MPs in the House. Those MPs are not from the ruling coalition legally. But they will most likely sit and vote with the Government.
