It was a shift from Narc-Kenya’s red and white to purple to PLP’s purple, lilac and white. In addition to that was a promise to rejuvenate the party that, in 2002, kicked the Kenya African National Union (Kanu) party out of power after nearly 40 years at the helm as the independence party.
Will there be anything new? Many observers are unimpressed, arguing that parties have rebranded throughout Kenya’s history with minimal improvement.
Political scientist John Okumu is among the skeptics. He believes that all political parties in existence are scions of Kanu on the grounds that those who ran away from it were the founders of the opposition parties and whose descendants continue to call the shots.
“What we have around is not multiparty democracy but a form of political infidelity founded on deception,” he said. “After elections, what we immediately start getting treated to are fragmentations of the very parties that were a year ago preaching about liberation and prosperity starting to mutate into yet new outfits to found new slogans.”
In his opinion, Kenyans are treated to colours, slogans, and new names but the hollowness of ideas remains intact, political parties remaining nothing but special purpose vehicles to approach the next General Election.
“We see the deceptive relaunch of political parties, change of names and formulation of new slogans and then have followers invited to attend their unveiling of headquarters and birthdays among other market share competition gimmicks,” he said.
After multiparty democracy was reintroduced in the country in 1992, exciting formations like the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford) came up together with Democratic Party, both being seen as the birthing of ideologically driven parties to midwife the real democratisation process.
“What did we get later? That Ford splintered into Ford Asili, Ford Kenya, New Ford Kenya...as DP went ahead to remain but founders exited to go to Narc, Narc Kenya and PNU...with more disembarking along the way,” said political commentator Peter Kagwanja.
After Kanu that ruled from 1963 to 2002, in came Narc that ruled from 2002 to 2007. It would morph into the Party of National Unity.
It is along those mutations that eventually we had parties like the United Republican Party (URP) and The National Alliance (TNA) that combined efforts to win the 2013 General Election before the rule of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto changed the party to Jubilee in 2017.
Along the way, the opposition since 2002 shaped out to be the face of Raila Odinga who from the Liberal Democratic Party moved to the Orange Democratic Movement Party, in the process coming up with Nasa and Azimio alliances.
As President Ruto makes a case for his re-election in 2027, he has since exhibited signs of dismantling the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party to merge it with the Amani National Congress party of his Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
Already, Mr Odinga has now thrown a party to celebrate 20 years of his ODM party while Martha Karua has relaunched her Narc Kenya party to the People Liberation Party and which is being angled as an anti-President Ruto formation for 2027.
Historian and political commentator Macharia Munene said that the thinking of the drafters of Vision 2030 was that putting political parties into the blueprint would give rise to fewer, ideology-driven parties.
“We were mistaken as we continue being subjected to briefcase parties while the main ones keep on amending their structural formations to capture power and public financing,” he argued. “All these parties we have are scions of the freedom Kanu party which also suffered the defilement of being renamed New-Kanu.”
Charged Prof Munene: “What fresh air do these mergers bring? In public, they speak like saints but behind the scenes they are ogres...They use these parties to win power and use the suffering of the people to retain themselves in treasury budgeting for poverty eradication programmes but their interest is to eat the budgets.”
According to Ms Angel Mbuthia, the happenings in politics leave the youth disoriented since they cannot keep pace with the mutations.
“The youth want a predictable landscape complete with honest engagements. But when we are hopping from one party to the other after every five years as governance issues remain trashed has angered us...See, we have been made freedom fighters in 2024 onwards instead of beneficiaries of what has been built since 1963,” the Jubilee Party Youth Alliance chairperson said. “Gen-Z protests had the issue of deceitful political parties that launch as workshops for manufacturing lies and selling false hope”.
Mr Booker Okole who heads the Communist Party-Marxist Kenya (CPM-K) says Kenya multiparty democracy is a con that comes up with pre and post-election coalitions for no other reason but to assemble the people for the slaughter.
“Like today, we have those who did not believe in bottom-up economic model ganging up with those who believed in it to now execute something that is totally confused...In their dealings, they are mooting coming up with a political party or a coalition to hoodwink Kenyans that it is democracy at play,” he said.
He says the result being sought in these parties’ relaunches, reformation and rebranding is to trade in monetary and power gain.
“We today have those who won power being helped to rule by those who lost the vote. This is because no value drives them, no morals take them forward. They are just there to promote something else for themselves and not for the people,” he said. “Even those suggesting that they want to inject freshness and liberation into our politics are only talking of justifiably making Ruto a one-term president but to offer us what reprieve?”
Mr Okole said political parties in Kenya, once they seize state power, become like organised crime.
“The party leaders are not even in control. They come to power propelled by interest parties that helped them win the vote...political parties in power represent cartels, tribe passions...nothing else,” he said.
He added that his party was a victim of that deceit in 2022 when a few people went to the UDA and signed personal pacts that committed all in it to a selfish deal.
“We have parties that cut deals for deception and sustenance of lies... Parties that only relaunch so as win power...they come packaged in lies, target being winning power,” he said.
Former Gatanga MP Mr Nduati Ngugi says the need for political parties is mostly for politicians gunning for positions and not for the voters.
“What we have are parties birthing more parties based on the culture of deceit which all is nonsense. The truth of the matter is politicians would love owning a party where a nomination certificate is guaranteed,” he said. “Most elections are won at the nominations level, hence the clamour for a political party uniquely owned by either yourself or friends.”
He added that due to a provision in the 2010 constitution that whoever wins the presidential polls must win more than half of the votes cast, use of political parties to mobilise big tribes to gang up a winning formula set in.
“That is why most vibrant and noisy parties belong to Mt Kenya, Nyanza, Eastern, Western and Rift Valley regions and they are the ones that keep shedding off old skins to radiate freshness in readiness for yet another election,” he said.
“As long as we continue banking our wins on tribal votes, political parties will forever be special purpose vehicles to ferry tribes to coalitions while wickedness of nominations will forever be driving contestants into newly formed parties,” added Mr Ngugi.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri who once founded the Grand National Union (GNU) before he dumped it for The Service Party (TSP) also shared similar thoughts.
“The nature of current politics demands that you pack yourself in a vehicle that has passengers with similar unique needs,” he told the Nation .
He said the current crisis in Mt Kenya – which has seen locals start demanding their own political party for 2027 – is informed by interests that cannot be satisfied by other people’s “hunting dogs”.
“Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment was made possible for his lack of a political party. This game is all about sealing haemorrhage points...The game of politics is vicious,” he said.
