Strategic planning practices among political parties in Kenya

Abstract

The aim of this project was to determine the strategic planning practices among political parties in Kenya and to establish the factors that influence this practice. The research conducted an exploratory descriptive survey involving forty eighty parties. This research covered both small and big parties as well as old and new ones. Data was collected by way of a questionnaire with both closed and open ended questions. The data collected was processed to produce requisite descriptive statistics which formed the basis of the analysis, discussions, conclusions and recommendations made in this report. A key finding of this research was that a majority of the political parties do not pursue formal approaches to strategic planning or to strategy development, though most appreciate the importance of strategy in their operations. Many of these parties indeed confirmed pursuing certain approaches to come up with strategy. The research findings also show that a majority of the parties had a vision, mission as well as well defined objectives but they were mainly found in the party manifestoes or constitutions and not in a formal strategic plan. The research findings show that less than one third of the political parties had a strategic plan. With regard to factors that influence strategic planning among political parties, an interesting finding was that age was not a factor. More of the younger parties than the middle aged parties had a formal approach to strategic planning though all the old parties did like likewise. The research however found the complexity of a party structur~ is a factor that influences strategic planning practices. The findings show that less complex parties put less premium on formal strategic planning than the more complex ones. The research also found that Party size is a factor in strategic planning. All large political parties have a formal approach to strategic planning while small had more informal approaches. The caliber of party secretariat is also an important factor in the approaches adopted by parties to environmental analysis. While parties with a professional secretariat had formal approaches to environmental analysis, a minority of the parties with semiprofessional or volunteer secretariats did the same. While the findings of this research seem to suggest that strategic planning was not a factor in the performance of political parties at the elections, it confirms that strategic planning is critical for the survival and thrifty of political parties. Parties that do not undertake strategic planning have a higher mortality rate than those that do.