Will ODM-PNU Have Politics of Consensus And Start Look Each Other As Adversary, And Not An ‘Enemy' ?

We are a thriving multi-party democracy. The diversity of our political system is a source of strength as well as vibrancy. Since the era of the PNU-ODM parties,pan-Kenyan hegemony is long over, the configuration of Kenya’s contemporary politics has become essentially bipolar at the national level with the ODM and PNU as the two principal and stable poles. Apart from these two main national parties, there are many that identify themselves with specific regional or social aspirations. Coalitions have become the order of the day both at the National and in Local level. Some of the coalition partners are also known to switch their allegiance from time to time.

This development in the last two decades has created a major challenge before our polity: how to ensure that a fragmented multi-party system, despite its inevitable pulls and pushes, can still maintain a core unity and continuity of purpose? Naturally, national parties have a greater responsibility in this regard than regional or sectional parties. Therefore, the need for a basic level of consensus amongst all parties, and especially between the two main national parties, has become paramount. Differences between the ODM and the PNU—as also between other parties—are bound to remain, since they profess different ideologies and have traversed different paths of evolution. Nevertheless, it is both possible and necessary for them to explore and expand the area of cooperation on issues of overriding national importance. For this, it is imperative that all parties inculcate the ethos of cooperation rather than confrontation, and maintain a basic level of dialogue which is not jettisoned for narrow considerations of competitive electoral politics.

For the ODM and the PNU to adopt a stance of consensus on critical national issues, it is essential for each to not look at the other as an ‘enemy’. As far as the ODM is concerned, we view the PNU as an adversary, and not as an ‘enemy’. Indeed, the very concept of ‘enemy’ in a democracy is unhealthy. Unfortunately, the PNU party’s attitude to the ODM is far from healthy. The PNU leadership thinks the ODM is evil as the other party also think otherwise.
I earnestly appeal to PNU-ODM leaders to shun such an approach.

Thanks!