Kenya’s governance problems are rooted in the way political parties are run, with weak accountability and poor leadership in the parties eventually finding their way into government, Mwongozo Mpya Party leader Macharia Njeru has said.
Njeru said political parties have a major influence on the quality of leadership in the country because they play a key role in determining who takes up positions in the Executive, Parliament and other public institutions.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Thursday, he warned that Kenya would continue facing governance challenges unless political parties addressed their own internal problems.
“Our problems actually start with the party politics going wrong,” Njeru said. “If you don't sort out the party politics, we'll continue having problems.”
He argued that parties that take power have a direct influence on appointments to government and other public offices, making the conduct of party leaders an important factor in how the country is governed.
Njeru said leaders who run political parties without integrity were likely to appoint people with similar values to key positions.
“If the people who are running the political parties are rogues themselves, it means then that the people they end up appointing are people who are made in their own image,” he said.
The party leader also criticised public officials whom he accused of putting personal interests ahead of the needs of Kenyans.
“They don't care about public interest. They do not care at all about the future of the young people or anybody in the country,” he said.
Njeru pointed to Singapore as an example of how political leadership can build a strong culture of accountability. He referred to former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s approach to corruption cases involving senior government officials.
He said leaders must be prepared to back their anti-corruption statements with action, arguing that declarations without consequences would not change the country’s governance culture.
“words and the actions must move together”, he said.
Njeru cited the prosecution of senior officials in Singapore as an example of leaders being held accountable, including cases involving people close to those in power.
“The culture was set up. It had already been set up. It's deeply rooted, so nobody can be corrupt and allowed to get away with it,” he said.
He linked the quality of governance to other challenges facing the country, including poverty, education and the economy. Njeru warned that continued political failures could have a direct impact on the future of young Kenyans.
He described education as a key foundation for the country and cautioned that failure to provide quality education would have serious consequences for the next generation.
“Education at the end of the day is the foundation of any country. If you get it wrong with education, you are destroying a country,” he said.
Njeru further called for political parties to be built around clear ideologies, values and discipline instead of being formed mainly to participate in elections.
He said parties that lack a clear identity and strong internal structures were unlikely to survive beyond individual political contests.
“If we don't nurture that kind of a discipline, then we'll keep creating all these briefcase parties that keep folding up,” he said.
Njeru said Mwongozo Mpya would focus on promoting leaders based on their integrity and ability rather than their financial strength.
He argued that political parties should create space for capable Kenyans to seek leadership even when they do not have the money needed to compete with wealthy politicians.