Bipartisan Talks: Submissions That Seek to Change Distribution of Political Parties Fund

The National Dialogue Committee on bipartisan talks on Monday received submissions that seek to change the structure and distribution of the political parties’ funds.

In its submissions, the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC) advocated for the restructure of the political parties funding formulae which will see funds shared based on votes garnered by each political party slashed from 70 percent of the total amount in the kitty to 60 percent.

‘’We believe that if this is done, then we will give life to multi-party democracy in this country,” stated a representative from the liaison committee.

If adopted, UDA and ODM parties will be hit the most since they received the highest windfall in the latest distribution.

From the Ksh1.48 billion kitty, the UDA Party received a total of Ksh577.2 million, the ODM Party (Ksh308.3 million) and Jubilee (Ksh135.1 million).

The submission made to the committee, however, proposed that only 60% of the funds be allocated to parties according to the number of votes garnered in the previous election.

10 percent of the fund is to be distributed to the parties according to the number of seats secured during the election.

Another 10% is to be allocated to the parties according to the number of Special Interest Group Seats by the respective political parties.

15 percent of the fund, according to the proposal, is to be distributed proportionally among the political parties that participated in the previous elections and the remaining shall be utilized by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties for the administration expenses.

The committee also proposed an amendment to an act of the constitution that gives power to the office of the registrar to administer funds to the Liaison Committee.

It now wants the fund to come directly from the treasury as it shall be turned into an independent body.

The ongoing talks at the Bomas of Kenya between the government’s Kenya Kwanza and the opposition’s Azimio are receiving submissions from various groups including societies, groups, and political parties.