News that the parliamentary select committee on IEBC had reached a deal on Tuesday was received with joy by a large section of Kenyans.
However, it may not be the same for many politicians and even some Kenyans who feel that a proposal by the committee seeking to prevent party hopping after respective party nominations prior to elections, may curtail democracy in one way or another.
If the proposal sails through parliament, no politician vying for whichever seat will be able to change parties as they usually do immediately they are defeated in the nominations. It will be the end of their road once defeated in the nominations till the next General election.
Amani National Congress (ANC) Leader Musalia Mudavadi was the first to throw cold water to this particular proposal while speaking to Citizen TV on Tuesday night, saying that 'politicians don't like being put in silos'. Neither are voters!
Mudavadi could be right; this particular clause will be a hard-sell to many MPs and may not see the light of the day for the following obvious reasons.
First, political parties in Kenya are individual assets and, therefore, the owners of those political parties decide who gets tickets for what seats. Party nominations are usually shambolic and a rare representation of the people's will.
For instance, ODM primaries were marred by chaos and violence in the run-up to the 2013 elections as voters protested what they termed as 'undemocratic nomination process'.
Some 'undesirable' candidates were forced down their throats by getting direct nominations bitterly opposed by voters who felt short-changed that their candidates of choice were denied party tickets. So was with many other dominant political parties in other regions.
Secondly, not all candidates who win popular parties nominations in particular regions win the elections.
A case in point is Elijah Memusi, the Kajiado Central MP who was defeated in TNA Party nominations but immediately jumped ship to ODM only to win the seat by a landslide. If party hopping was illegal then, Memusi might still be somewhere in Kajiado still rearing his sheep and goats. Another point, no serious politician want to be in the cold.
You don't expect the current MPs who know pretty well that they have slim chances of getting elected in the next parliament to adopt such a proposal. They want party-hopping to remain so that if they don't win nominations of the popular parties that sponsored them to parliament, they can hop to other small parties and peg their hope there.
Otherwise, if the proposal is adopted, we are likely to see many candidates for various political seats opting to run as independent candidates where they are assured of having their names on the ballot paper.