Crunch time as political partiesagonise over accounts

Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ngungu. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By JACOB NG’ETICH

KENYA: Political parties have a month from Monday to submit their books of accounts to the Auditor-General, as party leaders point out that it has become very expensive to run political outfits.

This comes, as it emerged that most party branch offices closed immediately after the General Election.

The Political Parties Act 2010 stipulates that the parties should present their books within three months after the end of each financial year, failure to which they will risk being deregistered by the Registrar of Political Parties (RPP).

Benjamin Muema, the Chairman of Political Parties Collaborative Leaders Forum and Secretary General of New Ford Kenya said the parties have been doing that since 2009 but now most parties were operating on arrears.

Branch offices

In an interview with The Standard on Sunday, Muema said given the 2010 Act requirement that every party runs not less than 24 branch offices across the country, the cost had gone up several folds and it was not sustainable. “If it costs Sh100,000 to run a single office. It will then require about Sh30 million to run the headquarters and the 24 branch offices. In the past, we only took care the head office only,” said Muema.

The New Ford Kenya Secretary General warned that if not checked, the rich politicians will continue to call the shots in the parties unless the Government plays its part.

Under the 2010 Act, parties are required to be benefit from the Political Parties Fund to be administered by the Registrar of Political Parties under Section 24.

The Act provides that the sources of the Fund should not be less than 0.3 per cent of the revenue collected by the national government as may be provided by Parliament and contributions and donations from any other lawful sources. Muema said there was need for the Government to ensure that the disbursement of 0.3 per cent of the amount was respected so that the parties would benefit.

He said since the beginning of the law in 2009, the Government has not honoured the requirement thereby crippling the parties.

“The essence of the law was to end the funding of political parties by individuals because it stifled democracy, but the government has dilly-dallied every year,” said Muema.

“Last year, we received Sh300 million instead of Sh3 billion and most of it went to ODM and the Party of National Unity (PNU), leaving the other smaller parties to fend for themselves,” he added.

Total votes

The Chairman of Political Parties Collaborative Leaders Forum said representatives of political party who met in Naivasha last month to take stock of the March 4 elections agreed that the threshold of the garnering 5 per cent of the total votes cast for a party to receive to be the funds was very high.

“The leaders agreed that every party that participated in the elections should be given a piece of the amount,” said Muema.  

Lucy Ndung’u, the RPP said whatever the situation, all political parties risked being de-registered if they did not submits any or presented statements that are false. 

According to the law, after the RPP has received the audited accounts then he or she will forward the report to be tabled before the National Assembly.

“Currently, there are 55 fully registered political parties and all of them will be required to submit their books of accounts to the auditor-general,” said Ndung’u.

As they prepare their books, most of the parties will likely factor the cost of running their branch offices across the country, though a survey by The Standard on Sunday indicated that most of the premises had been closed.

 “We ensured that all the registered parties had offices as required and we are monitoring them to ensure they are active as required, any party that falsify this information will risk deregistration,” said Ndung’u.

Muema said most of the parties eligible for the amount would likely spend it on settling debts.

Already, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), The National Alliance (TNA), United Republican Party (URP) and the United Democratic Forum (UDF) are angling to cash in millions of money through the Fund.

Ndung’u explained that once the Funds had been approved in the budget allocation it will be distributed according to the votes garnered by each political party in the 2013 General Elections.

 “How much each party will be entitled to is early to tell, we need to know how much has been allocated to the Fund as well us get a clear number of votes each party got in the last general elections,” said Ndungu.