After the famous March 20918 Handshake, between the two rival parties; Jubilee and ODM came into being, a lot of consultations and political agreements have transpired.
This move is with no doubt very healthy for political stability and peace in the country but again, it comes with some disadvantages. The handshake should focus on uniting Kenyans and provide them with a free healthy platform to express their political wills.
The handshake has killed Democracy in Kenya. This was eminent during the last two by-elections in Ugenya and Embakasi South. In both constituencies, ODM party fielded candidates and this forced their Jubilee counterparts to withdraw from the race in order to avoid ‘healthy’ competition with their newly found ‘brothers’
Through these agreements, voters from the two constituencies were probably denied their democratic rights to choose from among these parties.
The same scenario has been witnessed in the upcoming Wajir West by-elections. Orange Democratic Movement party has this time withdrawn its candidate in
The decision, the party says, was arrived at after a high consultative meeting with Jubilee party. Further, the statement states, the move was to reciprocate to Jubilee’s decision to pull out in three past key by-elections.
According to the party, it will not participate or take sides in the by-election just as Jubilee party did in the aforementioned constituencies. It’s however not clear whether the ODM candidate Prof Yusuf Elmi has consented to the decision.
This means that the contest will now be narrowed to Jubilee’s Ahmed Kolosh and KANU’s Ibrahim Mohamud.
If this trend continues then Kenyans risks being imposed on candidates they do not want just because their party heads have decided who among the competitors is going to win. The handshake should continue to focus on very crucial issues in the country but leave poll decision makings to the electorates.