By NERIMA WAKO-OJIWA

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By-elections are keenly followed because of the undertones they convey to the Kenyan political class. Indeed, a year and a half to the next General Election, the political arena is busy, so to speak.

We have always been political animals but the Building Bridges Initiative has catalysed our political addiction to unhealthy levels, especially at a time when we should be concerned about the spread of coronavirus.

With more than a year to voting day, Kenya appears to be in a stiff political competition. There have been by-elections but the mostly followed was that of Msambweni, where we witnessed a face-off between political giants, marred with unrest and politicians being arrested.

The spotlight was on Msambweni mainly because of the attention that it received from very high-ranking political figures including President Uhuru Kenyatta, who endorsed a particular candidate from the ODM party. Who would have thought the president can’t front a candidate from his own party, but support one from the opposition?

And here we are living at a time when the candidate who won the by-election had left the ODM party, in protest, was supported by Deputy President William Ruto.

But we have seen this scenario before. We saw it in Ugenya, considered the backyard of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but ODM lost to an independent candidate who was a former member of the party.

What times we are in, when politics doesn't make any political party sense.

There is a rise of independent candidates from our last election (2017) and they will continue to increase because of the way political parties are managed.

Perhaps, that is the best formula for a democracy where party politics are not properly institutionalised in the essence of affirmative action, transparency and accountability. When it comes to political parties, we know just how shambolic their processes can be.

Could it be that the voter is changing and, in some instances, don’t vote blindly by selecting individuals that belong to a party they support? I see two things, there are aspirants who start off independent and others who are forced to become independent because of the politics in their parties, so they leave in protest.

The number of individuals taking that route is increasing, where they see no real benefit of belonging to a party. And secondly, it appears that voters look at issues during elections — perhaps voting for six candidates on one particular day might be overwhelming so voting for the party is an easy way out.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa, executive director at Siasa Place @NerimaW