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Kenya

Parties slow in publishing finances

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 4 – Only five registered political parties have complied with the regulations of the Political Parties Act that require them to publish their source of funding before the end of October.

Article 33 of the Political Parties Act says that all registered parties shall publish their statements within three years of each government financial year, which begins in July.

In the past week alone, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), KANU, NARC-Kenya, the Democratic Party (DP) and Ford-Kenya have published their financial statements in the major daily newspapers for their members and supporters to know how their money in the last financial year was used.

ODM registered the highest total income at Sh14.1 million this year; up from Sh1 million reported last year.

Buoyed by its parliamentary strength, most of ODM’s revenue comes from the Political Parties’ Fund which accounts for Sh59.1 million this year followed by MPs’ contributions at Sh20.3 million which represents a drop from Sh36.1 million reported last year.

Out of the five parties to publish their accounts, only ODM seems to have alternative sources, where it reported receiving Sh3.6 million from donors last year.

KANU, on the other hand, registered Sh4.8 million in total income for the year. The former ruling party, however, has not received Political Parties Funds after Narc-Kenya obtained a court injunction blocking the Registrar of Political Parties to entrust PNU with the mandate to distribute Sh200 million to its 10 constituent parties.

KANU has total assets worth Sh7.5 million and gets most of its revenue from the Parliamentary Group contribution which stands at Sh4.8 million.

Interestingly, other parties in the PNU coalition such as DP and FORD-Kenya reported that they had received funds from the Registrar of Political Parties.

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According to the statements FORD-Kenya received Sh1.2million, while DP got Sh3.9 million.

FORD-Kenya has a total income of Sh10.5 million with revenue coming from membership dues, application fees for National Executive Council, Parliamentary Group dues and the Political Parties Fund.

Kenya had over 160 registered political parties as of November 2007, but following the implementation of the Political Parties Act in December 2008, the number fell to 38 with several others receiving partial recognition until they could comply with the Act.

The Act was formulated after concerns that Kenya’s political parties cannot account for billions of shillings they raise. It was feared that corruption in government and high places was a result of lack of funding for the parties, where those in high positions illegally generated funds to aid political schemes.

Parties have obligations to at all times to file with The Registrar of Political Parties, their Constitution, membership list and party officials and any changes thereto, funds and source of funds.

Failure to abide by these rules attracts both criminal and punitive measures and even de-registration.
 

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