NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 6 – The Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi has urged politicians and political parties to embrace dialogue, as a means of finding a common ground on the disagreements surrounding the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional review process.
In his key note address at the People’s Dialogue Festival at the National Museum headquarters on Thursday, Muturi recounted how dialogue had been used to tackle previous political crises in the country in the past.
The House Speaker cited the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group (IPPG) talks (which gave way to piece-meal constitutional review in the run up to the 1997 General Elections), as an example where representatives from the different political formations understood that accepting to dialogue does not necessarily amount to acceding to the other party’s ideals.
“Through dialogue we were able to do away with Section 2A giving way for multi-party democracy. Through intense dialogue via the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy we were able to develop a law for political parties,” he recalled.
Muturi who is a former Chairperson of the Centre of Multi-Party Democracy (CMD) proposed the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties be anchored in the Constitution given the crucial role political parties play in the growth of democracy in the country.
“For political parties should be strengthened, they need to meet regularly and agree on how to take a position for instance on a proposed legislation in Parliament,” he said.
Currently the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties is established in the Political Parties’ Act.
Nominated Senator Abshiro Halakhe, who is also the first woman Chairperson at the CMD, observed that diversity at the helm of political leadership plays a key role in enriching the governance spectrum.
Visiting Danish Deputy Speaker Karen Ellemann equally challenged political leaders to engage the people through dialogue so as to ensure their participation in policy making.
United Nations Development Programme Resident Coordinator, Siddharth Chatterjee, urged political parties to champion for women to leadership at the helm of the parties.
The three-day festival is geared towards promoting democratic and social dialogue as a mechanism to build bridges between the people and decision makers, offering the people an opportunity to hold decision makers accountable while promoting dialogue among political parties.
