Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
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Kenya
NIMD's Kenya programme focuses on building political consensus for democratic reforms.
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In the aftermath of the troubled 2007 elections, NIMD’s Kenyan partner, the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD-K) played a visible and constructive role in fostering a multi-actor dialogue. The centre brings together political and civil society around a democratic reform agenda, and is currenlty working to build consensus for constitutional reforms.
Political parties in parliament
• Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)
• Party of National Unity (PNU)
• Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-K)
• Kenya African National Union (KANU)
• SAFINA (a part of the Party of National Unity)
• National Rainbow Coalition – Kenya (NARC-Kenya)
• National Rainbow Coalition (NARC)
• Forum for Restoration of Democracy – People (Ford-P)
• Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU)
• Party of Independent Candidates of Kenya (PICK)
• New Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Kenya (New Ford-K)
• Democratic Party of Kenya (DP)
• Sisi Kwa Sisi Party
• Patriotic Party of Kenya (PPK)
• Mazingira Greens party
• Kenya National Democratic Alliance (KENDA)
• United Democratic Movement (UDM)
• Kenya African Democratic Development Union (KADDU)
• Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – Kenya (Ford-K)
• Progressive Development Party (PDP)
• National Labour Party (NLP)
• Kenya African Democratic Union Asili (KADU-A)
• Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Asili (Ford-A)
Key achievements in 2008
• Broadly shared reform
Despite the violent and chaotic situation that characterized the early start of 2008, CMD-Kenya has been able to secure its position as a bastion of democracy and persistently pushed for a broadly shared reform agenda. In this sense CMD-Kenya has proven to be a key risk mitigating mechanism in the country.
• Civil society engagement
CMD-Kenya earned a respected place in the Kenyan political spectrum by placing itself as a strategic nexus between political and civil society. Vis a vis the Annan negotiation team the organization successfully brought to the fore the concerns of a broad spectrum of political and civil society actors in Kenya. This involvement of CMD-Kenya has strengthened the support base for the Annan brokered agreement between PNU and ODM, and the ensuing reform agenda. Furthermore it provided CMD-Kenya with a unique starting position to promote implementation of the Annan agenda in the remainder of the year and to play its part in national debates on democratic reform.
• Ethnic reconciliation
Although triggered by the disputed electoral results, the 2007/2008 post election violence in Kenya manifested itself along ethnic lines. In order to address the (real and perceived) social and economic disparities between Kenya’s ethnic groups, CMD-Kenya developed the ‘Building Bridges of Understanding’ programme, designed to break ethnic isolation and foster communication and understanding across ethnic groups in Kenya.
• Party funding
In previous years NIMD provided direct funding to political parties in Kenya, with the aim of reinforcing their institutional capacity. However, due to the volatile situation in the country and the shattered political landscape after the December 2007 elections this ‘bilateral’ programme was temporarily put on hold in 2008. The parties continued to receive trainings, for instance on the implications of the new Political Parties Act, within a cross party setting.
Lessons learned
• Investing in the development of identity and ideology for political parties, together with depersonalization through the increase of internal party democracy, remains critically important in order to de-ethnicize politics.
• In its impartial position NIMD’s partner organization, the Centre for Multiparty Democracy in Kenya (CMD-Kenya), has proven able to facilitate the debate between the political parties and to include civil society organizations in the process. For instance,CMD-K played a pivotal role in the debate on reforms such as the assent of the Political Parties Act.
• Despite the fact that the political participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities has been promoted, social prejudice against the leadership qualities of women, youth and the disabled seems still to be a predominant factor in society. The emancipation of marginalized groups needs to be enhanced through continuous awakening of all players relevant to this challenge.
Key national partners
• Centre for Multiparty Democracy – Kenya (CMD-Kenya)
• Electoral Commission for Kenya (ECK)
• Law Reform Commission
• CAPF consortium of NGOs, including Transparency International and the Centre for Governance and Democracy (CGD)
• Media Focus on Africa
• Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
• Citizen TV
• Rotary Club
• Former Parliamentarians Association of Kenya (FPAK)
Key international partners
• Royal Netherlands Embassy
• Ford Foundation, United States of America
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
• Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Heinrich Böhl Foundation, Germany
• National Democratic Institute (NDI), United States of America
• International Republican Institute (IRI), United States of America
• European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA)
