After last year’s election and peaceful transfer of power, Kenya appeared to have escaped the curse of ‘hegemonic instability’ — the tragic trend by regional powers to fall to internal instability.
In light of this, Tyler Cowen, the American economist and columnist, wrote the article for Bloomberg: “Kenya is poised to become the ‘Singapore of Africa’” (June 14, 2023). In the same vein, Michael Power, writing for the Daily Maverick on July 6, surmised that: “Everything keeps going right for Kenya as it consolidates its powerhouse status”. President William Ruto, described by the African Confidential (July 7, 2023) as ‘a man for all summits’, has expanded Kenya’s diplomatic footprint globally.
But the country’s opposition, emboldened by deepening economic woes at home, has emerged as the weakest link in Kenya’s democracy and a real threat to its stability. Since January 23, the Azimio Coalition has been running an insurgent anti-government campaign, protesting against tax hikes, rising cost of living and alleged electoral injustice. Recently, these protests have engulfed more and more towns and cities, leading to loss of lives, destruction of property and threatening to shut down the economy. Voices calling for peace talks between the Government and the opposition are growing bolder and louder.
Kenya’s 2010 Constitution provides for the opposition in parliament. But what are peace talks expected to achieve? Where is change needed: on sharing executive power between the government and opposition or recalibrating the philosophical and moral foundation of opposition politics in Africa?
Analysis of opposition in Africa need to be based on a clear understanding of the three concepts underpinning political party systems in the world today.
One is the philosophy of harmony. The concept of harmony is traced to the Chinese philosopher and politician, Confucius (551 – 479 BCE), known to the Chinese as Kongzi (‘Master Kong’), who lived about 2500 years ago, at a time in Chinese history remembered as the Spring and Autumn period, when different factions of royals and nobles waged war in China, upsetting the general peace.
The idea of harmony aims to transcend or integrate apparent oppositions, or even to embrace clashing but instructive viewpoints. It tends to accept the harmonious unity of opposites — in this case between the government and the opposition.
Confucian political theory, which emphasized conflict resolution through mediation in order to achieve social harmony, points to the
need for dialogue between governments and their challengers. War has to be abolished and the Great Unity of the world pursued. In this context, the idea of harmony is incompatible with approaches to opposition politics as regime change. The functioning of the state and other public institutions must be based on the four principles of morality: propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame.
The teachings and philosophy of Confucius, who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages, continue to underpin the governing of political parties in East Asian cultures and society, especially the Communist Party of China. Globally, the idea of harmony also underpins the Chinese Communist Party Community’s slogan of ‘community with a shared future for mankind.
Consensus
The second idea underpinning opposition politics is consensus. The idea of consensus is at the heart of African society and governance. It should be the basis of African democracy. At the dawn of independence, Africa’s philosopher leaders pleaded for a non-opposition democracy based on consensus or dissent within. Many argued for a mass party as Africa’s innovation and contribution to democracy by consensus. “Democracy is as old as the hills. What is new…is the mass party,” Jomo Kenyatta said in the 1960s.
As a rule of thumb, decision-making in traditional African life and governance were by absolute consensus. The Ghanaian Philosopher, Kwesi Wiredu, posits that “there is considerable evidence that decision by consensus was often the order of the day in African deliberations, and on principle.”
It is in this context that the founding President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, averred that: “In our original societies, we operated by consensus. An issue was talked out in solemn conclave until such time as agreement could be achieved.”
In the same vein, Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania noted that “In African society, the traditional method of conducting affairs is by free discussion… The elders sit under the big trees, and talk until they agree”.
Obviously, Kaunda and Nyerere made their remarks in defence of the one-party system. But the African philosophy of consensus speaks to the need for dialogue as the basis of democracy. Consensus calls for respect for diversity, equality and freedom of all participants in the political community.
This virtue is pivotal for sustaining societal order, peace and stability.
The third idea on which opposition is based is dialectical thinking. Friedrich Hegel, the German philosopher, used the concept of dialectic to describe the change of forms of thought through their own internal contradictions into higher forms that unite said oppositions.
Differences in ideas require synthesis rather than mere acceptance.
The thesis is followed by antithesis, which is resolved by synthesis. As Lenin wrote in the Philosophical Notebooks, the unity of opposites is only temporary, transitory, and conditional. Equilibrium and harmony are only temporary; conflict, contradiction, and the struggle of opposing tendencies are permanent.” Western dialectical thought has given rise to the idea of opposition as an institution.
Justice
But modern elections in Africa have led to a form of victor’s justice: a winner takes all and a loser loses all order. It has also led to ‘low intensity’ retributive justice where losers in elections are completely cut off from the opportunities and benefits of the state such as employment, tenders, scholarships and finances. In Kenya, losers are considered as ‘non-shareholders’ in the government — an idiom of exclusion.
Power-sharing has been proposed as a strategy to resolve political crises arising from elections, especially in Africa. As a system of forced consensus involves exercising power in cooperation with rival groups to end political violence and restore stability, power sharing has failed to guarantee stability after competition elections.
Power-sharing does address the underlying concerns that contribute to election-related conflict. The more sustainable solution is to strengthen and maintain normal constitutional processes based on meritocracy, pragmatism and integrity rather than elite-based power-sharing settlements.
Consensus politics, where people talk until they agree, can restore harmony, and guarantee Kenya’s stability, enabling it to become ‘Africa’s Singapore’.
Professor Peter Kagwanja is former Government Adviser, the Chief Executive at the Africa Institute (API) and Adjunct Scholar at the University of Nairobi and the National Defence University (NDU), Kenya.
