Prof Peter Kagwanja. He says Jubilee and Nasa manifestos herald the return of ideological clash in Kenya. [Photo: kenyatalk.com]
It is hogwash to argue that the just launched Jubilee and Nasa manifestos are of little or no consequence, Prof Peter Kagwanja has said.
In his Sunday Nation column, Kagwanja has noted that a spreading, but erroneous interpretation of African societies, is that tribalism and not ideology drives politics.
"A critical review of the Jubilee and Nasa manifestos launched this week ahead of the August polls, reveals the two profoundly ideological alignments now battling for the soul of Kenya," writes Kagwanja.
He adds: "Jubilee and Nasa are two multi-ethnic formations whose respective manifestos capture the competing interpretations of the challenges facing the Kenyan society, their overarching visions of the future and their preferred form of power. More importantly, the two manifestos suggest the policies and preferred pathways to the future."
Kagwanja, who is the Chief Executive of Africa Policy Institute, says that the competing ideologies of Jubilee and Nasa formations are clearly discernible.
He asserts that the two manifestos are deeply steeped in the history of a vicious and protracted ideological struggle between the capitalist and socialist visions of the Kenyan society, which fought for supremacy in the 1960s.
The former government adviser opines that in many ways August 2017 is a significant round in the clash of the socialist and capitalist ideologies where Jubilee on one side is supporting a welfare capitalist vision of Kenya while Nasa is crusading for a vision of Kenya that is mundanely redistributive.
"While Jubilee wants expansion of infrastructure, technological education, energy and agriculture as evidence of Kenya as an emerging industrial power, Nasa on the other extreme is talking about basic needs of food (unga), free services (education), cut on rents, and the dismantling of large-scale estates and ranches and their redistribution to the poor," states Kagwanja.