Stick to the law when funding political parties

By JOSHUA KAWINO

The Political Parties are expected to raise money from contributions and donations from lawful sources and also to be funded 0.3 per cent or more by the national Government through the Political Parties Fund.

Only a party that secured at least five per cent of the total number of votes cast at the preceding General Election is entitled to the cash. The same must have not more than two-thirds of its registered office bearers from the same gender.

The Political Parties Act of 2011 goes further to give a formula for disbursing the funds by computing the total number of votes secured by the qualifying political party. Consequently, the registrar must add the total number of votes obtained by a party in the election for President, Members of Parliament, County Governors and Members of County Assemblies in the elections.

There are schemes to alter the distribution formulae so as to skip the reconciliation of the total tally of numbers released for the President and those of Members of Parliament, governors and county representatives. However, it is important to state that the reconciliations must be accurate so long as the Political Parties Act, 2011 remains in force, and that all actions must remain obedient to the spirit of the Constitution.

Furthermore it is clear that the fund is not to be disbursed at the discretion or whims of certain offices or technocrats, but is strictly in accordance with established legal framework. Currently the Orange Democratic Movement (96 members in the National Assembly) has the highest number of representation in both houses of Parliament followed by The National Alliance (TNA) party and the United Republican Party (URP).

We read mischief in media reports giving misleading information that TNA is the leading political party in numbers. While the same is correct for the Jubilee coalition, it is not for TNA.

And whereas others parties may have means and power to enable them source funds, ODM shall rely purely on what has been approved and formulated by the Political Parties Act, 2011. The lacklustre support to the budgetary corrections of the Sh344 million by legislators continues to worry.

There is no provision of 0.3 per cent in the 2013/2014 Budget. The only allocation to the Registrar of Political Parties is Sh344 million. The criterion used to arrive at this figure is not explained, neither is the regulations, legal or otherwise, that informed such decision known.

It is incumbent upon MPs to interrogate and reject provisions of the Budget estimates that are inconsistent with the law.  The national budget statement of revenue collection for 2013/14 estimates an annual target of about Sh1.02 trillion. The approved 0.3 per cent of this should entitle political parties to some Sh3.0 billion.

The beneficiaries can only use the allocated funds for purposes compatible with democracy in promoting the representation in Parliament and county assemblies of women, persons with disabilities, youth, ethnic and other minorities and marginalised communities; promoting active participation by individual citizens in political life; covering the election expenses of the political party and the broadcasting of the policies of the political party; the organisation by the political party of civic education in democracy and other electoral processes; bringing the political party’s influence to bear on the shaping of public opinion; and administrative and staff expenses of the political party, which shall not be more than 30 per cent of the moneys allocated to the political party.

The expenditures shall be subjected to thorough audit by Kenya National Audit Office.

Political parties are required to establish their head offices, registered in Kenya, which must, by implication be accessible, secure, conspicuous, spacious and not in a backstreet. This requirement is applicable to the more than 24 branch offices across the country. The cost of running these offices amounts to millions of shillings every month hence the 0.3 per cent requirement. Any attempt therefore to underfund parties would derail the democratic gains made so far and that all parties must rise up to protect these legal gains for the enhancement of democracy.

It was necessitated by the fact that Political Parties needed structures and influence to play a major role in moving the reform agenda forward. The fund should strengthen party programmes, address institutional and structural lapses and enhance capacity for policy formulation and implementation.

It is also important to reiterate finally that the membership and the public have branch records, registrar’s records, audit reports and party manifestos as means of verification as to political party’s performances.

The writer is the acting Executive Director of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).