Jubilee, ODM to share Sh3bn parties windfall

At least Sh3 billion will be shared out between ODM and Jubilee parties this financial year following a directive by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.

The directive is based on a court ruling that political parties be given what belongs to them legally.

Mr Muturi gave the order following an intervention on the floor of the House by Mathare MP Anthony Oluoch, who said that the court order that directed the National Assembly to allocate the funds as provided for in the Political Parties Act, has not been complied with.

“What we need to appreciate is what is contained in section 24 of the (Political) parties act and articles 91 and 92 of the Constitution relating to political parties formation and funding. The reasons why they are funded from the exchequer is because they are recognised as public institutions of public governance,” Mr Muturi said.

The speaker’s order was supported by Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale and the leader of minority, John Mbadi.

APPROPRIATE FUNDS

The duo argued that the responsibility is now placed squarely on the National Assembly, the body given the responsibility to appropriate funds for the national government.

Mr Mbadi said that the leadership of the House had agreed on a supplementary budget later this year to comply with the court order.

“I sit on the Budget and Appropriations Committee, which did not agree with the recommendation of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. Even against wise counsel from some of us, the majority overruled us and our rules are very clear,” Mr Mbadi said.

Mr Duale sought to have the Justice committee chaired by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo summon the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to explain why he did not comply with the court order.

“This House complies with a court order and a CS must also comply with it. We do not want parties to be funded by individuals or owned by a community. We want parties that can be funded by the Exchequer at the grassroots level, the county level, and national level. That is the spirit of the Constitution,” Mr Duale said.

RETREAT

“I was in ODM in 2007. We used to go to the rich and mighty in the party, even when we wanted to have a retreat. However, these days, a party can have its retreat, pay its employees, rent buildings and call a parliamentary group meeting because the taxpayer will pay for it,” he said.

In terms of the legally established formula for sharing the funds under the parties’ law, only ODM and Jubilee Party qualify because they secured at least five percent of the total number of votes at the last election.

The total number of votes secured by a political party will be computed by adding the total number of votes obtained in the preceding general election by a political party in the election for the President, MPs County Governors and members of county assemblies.

ODM and Jubilee will be forced to devise ways of sharing the funds with the other 52 registered political parties that supported their presidential candidates in the last elections based on their coalition agreements.

For instance, Wiper, ANC and Ford-Kenya, among others, supported the ODM presidential candidate while Kanu, Narc- Kenya and Maendeleo Chap Chap supported Jubilee.

CONTROVERSY

“The requirement on the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury is to make budgetary proposals. The business of allocating funds lies squarely within you,” Mr Muturi reminded the MPs.

But even as the speaker gave the directive, there is controversy on whether to include the presidential result in the computation of votes ODM and Jubilee got.

The law proclaims the presidential vote as one of the units of computation.

But the quandary is that the presidential vote in the last election was nullified and the subsequent presidential election, which Nasa leader Mr Raila Odinga boycotted, is not a general election, according to ODM.

However, Jubilee is pushing to include the fresh presidential election result which, if adopted by the registrar of political parties, will see the party get about Sh2 billion and ODM Sh1 billion.

“We held a meeting with the registrar of political parties sometime in May and told her to compute the votes for the other positions excluding the presidential votes because it was annulled,” Mr Mbadi said.

“We even told her to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on the issue and our secretary general was to follow up on the matter. That is our position because it makes sense,” the Suba South MP said.

NATIONAL BUDGET

The other concern is that amount will not be available immediately as it was not factored in the national budget passed by the House on June 14.

Article 92 (f) of the Constitution provides for the establishment and management of a political parties fund.

Section 24 (1) of the parties act provides that funds not less than 0.3 percent of the revenue collected by the national government shall be allocated to the parties.

The allocation is based on the latest audited accounts of the national government.

The latest audited and adopted accounts of the national government dates back to the 2013/14 financial year.