New parties miss out on State funds, rely on members

United Republican Party delegates during an event at the Coast ahead of the 4th March elections. The party will miss out on funding for political parties. Photo/Gideon Maundu  Nation Media Group

By EDWIN MUTAI

In Summary

• The parties, including the ruling The National Alliance (TNA) and United Republican Party (URP) did not receive their Exchequer releases for the 2012/13 financial year.
• Only political parties that existed after the 2007 General Election or those that brought candidates in subsequent by-elections received funds.

Political parties that were founded in the run-up to the last General Election are relying on contributions from members to stay afloat.

Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u said all parties were yet to receive money from the Treasury this year following an injunction against allocating proceeds from the Political Parties Fund.

“The current allocation (Sh205 million) has not been disbursed because we have orders not to release any cent. You can check details of the case at the High Court,” Ms Ndung’u said.

The parties, including the ruling The National Alliance (TNA) and United Republican Party (URP) did not receive their Exchequer releases for the 2012/13 financial year.

“Only political parties that existed after the 2007 General Election or those that brought candidates in subsequent by-elections received funds.

“Parties that were founded after the commencement of the last financial year (July 2012) were not funded,” said Ms Ndung’u as political parties started publishing their accounts for the last financial year.

According to statutory fillings for the year ended June 30, 2012, URP, founded by Deputy President William Ruto, did not receive a single penny from the public funding.

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“Of the filings that I have received, political parties that came in midstream did not receive anything. But old parties like Orange Democratic Movement received the funding,” she said in a telephone interview.

URP spent Sh76.6 million that it received through its membership contributions and donors to foot election expenses and administration costs leaving it with a balance of Sh691,165 as at the end of June 2013.

The Constitution provides that the National Assembly should provide funds not less than 0.3 per cent to fund party activities. Sh340 million was allocated to the political parties in the last financial year out of the audited revenue of Sh881 billion in the previous year.