Dispute Resolution in Kenya’s 2017 Political Parties Primaries a Comparative Study of Kenya and Nigeria

Abstract

The overarching argument in this LLM Research Project paper is that even though political parties are constitutional vehicles used to ensure the realization of individual political rights, there are still some shortcomings with regards to the party primary dispute resolution in Kenya. These shortcomings include violence, bribery, favoritism, gender parity among others.1 Article 4 of the Constitution of Kenya provides that Kenya is a multiparty state founded on the national values and principles of governance including democracy and participation of the people.2 Article 38 further enshrines political rights of Kenyan citizens which include the rights to form and participate in the events of a political party.3 Accordingly, the Constitution presumes the existence of several strong and vibrant political parties run on democratic lines.4 And as such, party primaries form the foundation through which democracy can be realized in Kenya. However, political parties have failed to achieve this objective due to lack of proper dispute resolution mechanisms.5 Every election cycle in Kenya has experienced both intra and inter political party disputes that require not only proper but also functional and clear dispute resolution mechanisms and laws. This is not the case with Kenya.6 This research paper seeks to answer three key research questions. First, what are the key Constitutional provisions, statutes, laws, and regulations that regulate political party operations and primaries in Kenya? What are the key provisions of the relevant statues law that regulated the disputed areas? Second, what were the various forms of disputes that arose during the 2017 party primaries? What were the challenges experienced during dispute dissolution? Third and final, what lessons can Kenyan political parties derive from the practice in Nigeria and the United States with regards to political party primary dispute resolution? The choice of Nigeria has been informed by at least two key reasons. First, Nigeria political environment and political economy is almost similar to that experienced in Kenya. Second, Nigeria, just like Kenya, has held their elections in the recent past. From the discussion in Chapter two of this research paper, it is evident that there are sufficient and adequate laws in Kenya that regulate party primaries as well as dispute resolution.7 A unified implementation of both national law and international law provides an extensive array of laws that seek to deliver a proper environment for party primaries.8 What therefore remains is the will of political parties to implement these laws, rules and regulations.9 Further, the discussion in Chapter 3, it is clear that political parties in the Kenya are often unwilling to implement their respective party constitutions.10 And that despite a successful process in some of the political parties, the political party primaries nomination exercise was carried out in a tense environment marred with intimidation, bribery, pre-marked ballots, violence, political power patronage and faulty registers in various parts of the country.11 This paper therefore undertakes an analysis of the 2017 political party dispute resolutions with a view of making suggestions for effective and efficient dispute resolution mechanisms