Coalition Politics of Kenya: 2008 - To-date
The Politics of Kenya take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Kenya is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Recent constitutional amendments have enabled sharing of executive powers between the President and a Prime Minister. Executive power is exercised by the government, with powers shared between the President and a Prime Minister, who coordinates and supervises the cabinet. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The 2007 Elections:
After the 2002 elections KANU was beaten into opposition, while LDP was a partner in the ruling NARC coalition, until it was kicked out after the 2005 referendum. LDP had supported no vote at the referendum, thus being against president Kibaki.
Following their united stand in the referendum debate and responding to a threat by a newly formed Narc-Kenya party, the leaders of KANU, LDP and some smaller parties decided to team up for the upcoming 2007 Kenya general elections, forming the Orange Democratic Movement, which was named after the symbol of an orange used to represent "No" in the referendum. However, opportunist lawyer Mugambi Imanyara managed to register ODM as a party before the coalition did, forcing them instead to use the ODM-Kenya banner.
The 2007 presidential elections were largely believed to have been flawed with international observers stating that they did not meet regional or international standards. Most observers suggest that the tallying process for the presidential results were rigged to the advantage of the incumbent president Mwai Kibaki, despite overwhelming indications that his rival and current Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga, won the election. In July 2008, exit polls commissioned by the US government were released, revealing that Odinga had won the election by a comfortable margin of 6%, well outside of the poll's 1.3% margin of error.
There was significant and widespread violence in the country - 2007-2008 Kenyan crisis - following the unprecedented announcement of Kibaki as the winner of the 2007 presidential elections. The two rivals were later united in a grand coalition government following international mediation, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, under a power-sharing National Accord on Reconciliation Act, entrenched in the constitution. Following the agreement, power was shared between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister, Raila Odinga
As 2007 progressed the coalition proved unstable, with various factions defecting. Uhuru Kenyatta's KANU were the first, pulling out in July 2007 and endorsing President Kibaki's reelection, although some individual KANU politicians stayed in ODM. Then, due to internal rivalry between Kalonzo Musyoka and Raila Odinga, ODM split into two factions in mid-August2007. Raila's group, which also included Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, Joseph Nyagah and Najib Balala defected from ODM Kenya and took over the ODM party registered by Mugambi Imanyara, while Kalonzo's group, led by himself and Dr. Julia Ojiambo remained in the original ODM-Kenya.
ODM became the largest party in parliament after the December 2007 elections with 99 members of parliament and went ahead to win 3 out of five by-elections in early 2008. However it seems that the jinx of losing Members of Parliament still haunts the party since no sooner had by-elections been conducted in the constituencies of two ODM MPs who were killed at the beginning of the year than two more MPs died in an aircraft crash. Some ODM MP's whose elections were contested in court have lost their seats and more elections petitions are still going on.
On Thursday 08 Feb 2008, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement intended to end a post-election crisis that killed more than 1,000 people.
Full text of the agreement:
ACTING TOGETHER FOR KENYA: AGREEMENT ON THE PRINCIPLES OF PARTNERSHIP OF THE COALITION GOVERNMENT.
Preamble:
The crisis triggered by the 2007 disputed presidential election has brought to the surface deep-seated and long-standing divisions within Kenyan society. If left unaddressed, these divisions threaten the very existence of Kenya as a unified country. The Kenyan people are now looking to their leaders to ensure that their country will not be lost.
Given the current situation, neither side can realistically govern the country without the other. There must be real power-sharing to move the country forward and begin the healing and reconciliation process.
With this agreement, we are stepping forward together, as political leaders, to overcome the current crisis and to set the country on a new path. As partners in a coalition government, we commit ourselves to work together in good faith as true partners, through constant consultation and willingness to compromise.
This agreement is designed to create an environment conducive to such a partnership and to build mutual trust and confidence. It is not about creating positions that reward individuals. It seeks to enable Kenya's political leaders to look beyond partisan considerations with a view to promoting the greater interests of the nation as a whole. It provides the means to implement a coherent and far-reaching reform agenda, to address the fundamental root causes of recurrent conflict, and to create a better, more secure, more prosperous Kenya for all.
To resolve the political crisis, and in the spirit of coalition and partnership, we have agreed to enact the National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008, whose provisions have been agreed upon in their entirety by the parties hereto and a draft copy is appended hereto.
Its key points are:
* There will be a Prime Minister of the Government of Kenya, with authority to coordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the Government of Kenya.
* The Prime Minister will be an elected member of the National Assembly and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition, if the largest party does not command a majority.
* Each member of the coalition shall nominate one person from the National Assembly to be appointed a Deputy Prime Minister.
* The Cabinet will consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and the other Ministers. The removal of any Minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.
* The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no confidence with a majority vote.
* The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.
* The coalition will be dissolved if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.
* The National Accord and Reconciliation Act shall be entrenched in the Constitution.
Executive Branch
Main office holders
Office - Name - Party - Since
President - Mwai Kibaki - PNU - 29 December 2007
Vice-President - Kalonzo Musyoka - ODM-K - 18 January 2008
Prime Minister - Raila Odinga -ODM - 17 April 2008
The president is elected for a five year term by the people. The constitution of Kenya has three requirements for any candidate to be declared winner:
" to get the largest number of votes among all contestants nationwide in absolute terms
" to win at least 25% of the vote in at least five of Kenya's eight provinces
" to be elected member of parliament in a constituency.
If none of the candidates fulfills all three requirements there is to be a runoff between the two contenders with the highest number of votes.
The president appoints the vice president and cabinet members from among those elected to the National Assembly. Under the power sharing agreement signed by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, the post of prime minister was constitutionally created and ministers appointed to reflect political parties' relative strength in the National Assembly. The Raila Odinga led party, the Orange Democratic Movement is currently the largest party in Kenya's parliament. Under the power-sharing agreement, each of the two major parties also nominated a deputy prime minister.
Legislative branch
The unicameral National Assembly or Bunge has 224 members, 210 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies, 12 members nominated by political parties in proportion to their share of seats won in the single-member constituencies and 2 ex officio members: the attorney general and the speaker.
Coalition Political parties
Main coalition political parties in Kenya:
1. Party of National Unity of Kenya:
Party of National Unity (PNU) was founded as a political coalition of parties in Kenya. On September 16, 2007, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki announced the party formation and said that he would run as its presidential candidate in the December 2007 Kenyan elections. It has since become a political party in its own right following conditions set by the Political Parties Act, passed in Kenya in 2008.
The PNU started out as a coalition of several parties, including the KANU, Narc-Kenya, Ford-Kenya, Ford-People, Democratic Party, Shirikisho, National Alliance Party of Kenya and others. President Mwai Kibaki was to be the only personal member of PNU besides the corporate membership through the affiliated parties
2. Orange Democratic Movement:
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) refers to a political party in Kenya, which is the successor of a former grassroots people's movement which was formed in the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum. The erstwhile single party separated in August 2007 into two: The two parties are the Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya (usually known simply as ODM), and the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (known as ODM-Kenya).
The name "orange" originates from the ballot cards in the referendum, in which a 'Yes' vote was represented by the banana and a 'No' vote was the orange. Thus the parties claim successorship to those who did not support the referendum at the time.
The original linchpins of the ODM were Uhuru Kenyatta's KANU party and Raila Odinga's LDP, but KANU have since pulled out, and the two groupings are headed by Raila Odinga (ODM) and Kalonzo Musyoka (ODM-Kenya).
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